Italian Articles

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!

Italian Articles

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:

 

                      Italian DEFINITE ARTICLES

 

     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]

 

                       Italian INDEFINITE ARTICLES

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 ArticlesItalian Articles
articlesArticoli
theil
aun
oneuno
somealcuni
fewpochi
the bookil libro
the booksi libri
a bookun libro
one bookun libro
some booksalcuni libri
few bookspochi 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.

Grammar Tips:

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)


List of Articles in Italian

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 VocabularyItalian Vocabulary
Foodcibo
almondsmandorle
breadpane
breakfastprima colazione
butterburro
candycaramella
cheeseformaggio
chickenpollo
cumincumino
dessertdolce
dinnercena
fishpesce
fruitfrutta
ice creamgelato
lambagnello
lemonlimone
lunchpranzo
mealpasto
meatcarne
ovenforno
pepperpepe
plantspiante
porkcarne di maiale
saladinsalata
saltsale
sandwichpanino
sausagesalsiccia
soupsoup = minestra, brodo = broth
sugarzucchero
suppercena
turkeytacchino
applemela
bananabanana
orangesarance
peachespesche
peanutarachide
pearspere
pineappleananas
grapesuva
strawberriesfragole
vegetablesverdure
carrotcarota
cornmais
cucumbercetriolo
garlicaglio
lettucelattuga
olivesolive
onionscipolle
pepperspeperoni
potatoespatate
pumpkinzucca
beansfagioli
tomatoespomodori

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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