Italian articles A1

Italian articles are tiny words that stand before nouns and are accorded to them.In English we use only THE & A\AN but in Italian there are more articles to use, they must match the gender and the number of the nouns and a few of them must be placed before specific nouns beginning with certain letters.

There are two kinds of articles:

• DEFINITE ARTICLES (IL,LO,GLI,LA,LE,L’)

• INDEFINITE ARTICLES(UN,UNO,UNA,UN’)

DEFINITE ARTICLES ”The”

Definite articles are used to talk about something specific – something both you and the listener already know about. The use of definite articles depends on the gender, number and even the first letter of the noun that follows.

Here are the Italian definite articles: IL, LO, LA, I, GLI, LE & L’.

Definite articles in use:

IL is used before most masculine singular nouns.

IL ragazzo – IL libro – IL gatto

The boy – The book – The cat

LO is used for masculine singular nouns beginning with :

-ps LO psicologo (the psychologist)

-pn LO pneumatico (the tyre)

-gn LO gnomo (the gnome)

-z LO zio (the uncle)

-y LO yogurt (the yogurt)

-x LO xilofono (the xylophone)

– s+consonant LO studente (the student)

LA is used before feminine singular nouns beginning with a consonant

L’ is used before feminine and masculine singular nouns beginning with a VOWEL.

I is used before most plural masculine nouns.

GLI is used before masculine plural nouns beginning with:

-ps GLI psicologi (the psychologists)

-pn GLI pneumatici (the tyres)

-gn GLI gnomi (the gnomes)

-z GLI zii (the uncles)

-y GLI yogurt (the yogurts)

-x Gli xilofoni (the xylophones)

– s+consonant GLI studenti (the students)

LE is used before plural feminine nouns

INDEFINITE ARTICLES ”a\an”

Indefinite articles are used when we mention something for the first time or when we talk about one of many. There are masculine and feminine indefinite articles. These are UN, UNO, UNA, and UN’.

UN is used before most masculine singular nouns.

UNO is used for masculine singular nouns beginning with :

-ps UNO psicologo (a psychologist)

-pn UNO pneumatico (a tyre)

-gn UNO gnomo (a gnome)

-z UNO zio (an uncle)

-y UNO yogurt (a yogurt)

-x UNO xilofono (a xylophone)

– s+consonant UNO studente (a student)

UNA is used before feminine singular nouns beginning with a consonant.

UN’ is used ONLY before FEMININE singular nouns beginning with a VOWEL.

Now let’s see if it’s all sinking in! Write the correct article for these sentences.

1. ”I want a pizza” – Voglio ____ pizza (one pizza, not a specific one)
2. ”The cats are sleeping” – ____ gatti stanno dormendo
3. ”She has an umbrella” – Le ha ____ ombrello
4. ”The girls are in the park” – ____ ragazze sono al parco

Leave the answers in the comments. See you soon.