If you're trying to learn Italian Articles you will find some useful resources including a course about Definite and Indefinite Articles... to help you with your Italian grammar. Try to concentrate on the lesson and notice the pattern that occurs each time the word changes its place. Also don't forget to check the rest of our other lessons listed on Learn Italian. Enjoy the rest of the lesson!
Learning the Italian Articles displayed below is vital to the language. Italian articles are words that combine with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. Generally articles specify the grammatical definiteness of the noun. Examples are "the, a, and an".
Unlike English, which has only one definite article “the” for both singular and plural, Italian has 4 different articles, also depending on genre:
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Italian DEFINITE ARTICLES |
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|
|
Singular |
Plural |
|
Masculine |
il / lo * |
i /gli * |
|
Feminine |
la |
le |
Ex. IL gatto (the cat), I bambini (the children)
LA casa (the house), LE rose (the roses)
* Notice: the masculine article can vary according to the initial letter of the word; in Italian
there’s not a specific rule, but there are just some few words requiring LO/GLI instead
of IL/I, for ex.: LO zaino (the rucksack), LO studio (studying), LO stimolo (the
stimulus), GLI gnocchi (a type of pasta), GLI avvisi (the announcements), etc.
[you can check them on the dictionary]
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Italian INDEFINITE ARTICLES |
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|
Masculine |
Un /uno |
|
Feminine |
Una / un’ |
Ex. UN topo (a mouse), UNO zaino (a rucksack);
à as for the definite article, there are some few cases of words requiring the indefinite UNO
instead of UN (they are more or less the same used for the definite examples).
UNA maglietta (a t-shirt), UN’ amica (a friend –female person-)
à the full form is used when the feminine word starts with a consonant, while the contracted
form is used when the word starts with a vowel.
OTHER DETERMINERS:
The English indefinite SOME / ANY is translated with ALCUNI, QUALCHE, DEI, DELLE, DEL, UN PO’ DI, NESSUNO (according to the contexts).
Here are some examples:
- Some apples: ALCUNE/DELLE mele
- I don’t see any book here: non vedo NESSUN libro qui
- There are some interesting articles on this magazine: ci sono DEGLI articoli interessanti su questa rivista / c’è QUALCHE articolo interessante su questa rivista
(NOTICE the different use of singular and plural form, according to the choice of the indefinite item)
- I have some important things to say: ho DELLE cose importanti da dire
- Some guests came yesterday: QUALCHE ospite è venuto ieri (NOTICE the use of singular form with “qualche”)
Here are some more examples:
| English Articles | Italian Articles |
|---|---|
| articles | Articoli |
| the | il |
| a | un |
| one | uno |
| some | alcuni |
| few | pochi |
| the book | il libro |
| the books | i libri |
| a book | un libro |
| one book | un libro |
| some books | alcuni libri |
| few books | pochi libri |
Notice the structure of the Articles in Italian has a logical pattern. Locate the Articles above and see how it works with the rest of the sentence in Italian.
Definite Article:
Unlike English, which has only one definite article “the", Italian has 6 definite articles:
Il (masculine singular), il libro (the book)
Lo (masculine singular) lo scopo (the purpose)
I (masculine plural) i libri (the books)
Gli (masculine plural) gli scopi (the purposes)
La (feminine singular) la casa (the house)
Le (feminine plural) le case (the houses)
Indefinite Article:
While we have (a / an / some) in English as indefinite articles, we also have un/uno, una. in Italian. In case of plural we use words like alcuni, dei, un po’ di etc.
In general, whenever (a, an) are used in English, you need to use (un, uno) or (una) to say the equivalent in Italian.
Un (masculine singular), un libro (a book)
Uno (masculine singular) uno scopo (a purpose)
Una (feminine plural) una casa (a house)
Example: I libri che posseggo sono in una casa di un amico (The books I have are in a house of a friend)
Below is a list of vocabulary where you can use the Definite and Indefinite Articles in Italian. Try to practice but also memorizing this table will help you add very useful and important words to your Italian vocabulary.
| English Vocabulary | Italian Vocabulary |
|---|---|
| Food | cibo |
| almonds | mandorle |
| bread | pane |
| breakfast | prima colazione |
| butter | burro |
| candy | caramella |
| cheese | formaggio |
| chicken | pollo |
| cumin | cumino |
| dessert | dolce |
| dinner | cena |
| fish | pesce |
| fruit | frutta |
| ice cream | gelato |
| lamb | agnello |
| lemon | limone |
| lunch | pranzo |
| meal | pasto |
| meat | carne |
| oven | forno |
| pepper | pepe |
| plants | piante |
| pork | carne di maiale |
| salad | insalata |
| salt | sale |
| sandwich | panino |
| sausage | salsiccia |
| soup | soup = minestra, brodo = broth |
| sugar | zucchero |
| supper | cena |
| turkey | tacchino |
| apple | mela |
| banana | banana |
| oranges | arance |
| peaches | pesche |
| peanut | arachide |
| pears | pere |
| pineapple | ananas |
| grapes | uva |
| strawberries | fragole |
| vegetables | verdure |
| carrot | carota |
| corn | mais |
| cucumber | cetriolo |
| garlic | aglio |
| lettuce | lattuga |
| olives | olive |
| onions | cipolle |
| peppers | peperoni |
| potatoes | patate |
| pumpkin | zucca |
| beans | fagioli |
| tomatoes | pomodori |
Definite and Indefinite Articles have a very important role in Italian. Once you're done with Italian Articles, you might want to check the rest of our Italian lessons here: Learn Italian. Don't forget to bookmark this page.
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