ITALIAN LESSONS - ARTICLES / ARTICULI

ITALIAN LESSONS - ARTICLES / ARTICULI

Definite and Indefinite articles – Articuli indeterminativo ed determinativo

Articles are words that precede the substantive (a noun).

Definite article: used to indicate that a thing is unique in some way.

Indefinite article: used to indicate that a thing is not identified as unique.

In Italian the article must agree in gender and number with the noun, which means that the definite article la, for example, should precede a singular and feminine. Study the chart below:

Articles	Definite - THE		Indefinite - A / AN
	Singular	Plural	Singular (there is not a formal plural)
Masculine (maschile)	IL / L' / LO	I / GLI	UN / UNO
Feminine (femminile)	LA / L'	LE	UNA / UN'

* Note

L - before a vowel

Lo- before words starting with: s + another consonant (ie: st; sb) or z

Gli- before a vowel or words starting with: s + another consonant (ie: st; sb) or z

Un' - before a vowel (only to feminine words)

Uno - before words starting with: s + another consonant (ie: st; sb) or z

Una - before a consonante

Examples

Study the examples below:

Definite article - masculine

• Il libro – The book

• L'amico – The friend (the male friend)

• Lo spettacolo – The spectacle

• Lo zio - The uncle

• I libri – The books

• Gli amici – The friends

• Gli spettacoli - The spectacles

• Gli zoccoli - The claws

Indefinite article - masculine

• Un libro – A book

• Un premio - a prize

• Un amico – A friend

• Uno spettacolo – A spectacle

• Uno zoccolo - A claw

Definite article - feminine

• La macchina – The car

• L'amica – The friend (the female friend)

• Le macchine – The cars

• Le amiche

Indefinite article - feminine

• Una macchina – A car

• Un´amica – a friend (a female friend)