Lesson number 4
Part 1
Italian Articles, Gender & Number
Articles, gender and number are the first steps to learn Italian properly. Let's start to practice these very important elements of Italian grammar.
Definite Articles – Gli articoli determinativi
Italian articles identify the gender and number of nouns; they can be masculine or feminine, singular or plural.
In Italian, we have 2 feminine definite articles for the singular form and 1 for the plural form:
Here are some examples:
La borsa The bag – Le borse The bags
La finestra The window – Le finestre The windows
La porta The door – Le porte The doors
L’ora The hour – Le ore The hours
L’alba The dawn – Le albe The dawns
L’aula The classroom – Le aule The classrooms
The masculine definite articles in Italian are 3 for the singular form and 2 for the plural form:
Here are some examples:
Il tavolo The table – I tavoli The tables
Il letto The bed – I letti The beds
Il cane The dog – I cani The dogs
L’amico The friend – Gli amici The friends
L’orto The garden – Gli orti The gardens
L’uomo * The man – Gli uomini * The men
Lo scoiattolo The squirrel – Gli scoiattoli The squirrels
Lo zio The uncle – Gli zii The uncles
Lo gnomo The gnome – Gli gnomi The gnomes
Lo psichiatra The psychiatrist – Gli psichiatri The psychiatrists
Lo yeti The yeti – Gli yeti The yetis
Lo pneumologo The pulmonologist – Gli pneumologi The pulmonologists
Definite articles are used:
To indicate specific people or objects
Questa è la macchina di Luca – This is Luca’s car
La borsa di Paola è molto bella – Paola’s bag is very beautiful
With possessive adjectives and pronouns
Mi piace il mio lavoro – I like my job
La tua stanza è al terzo piano, la mia è al secondo – Your room is on the third floor, mine is on the second
With abstract and general nouns, including colours
L’amicizia è molto importante per me – Friendship is very important to me
Mi piace il nero – I like black
With parts of the body and clothes
Stasera mi metto la cravatta – Tonight I’m going to wear a tie
Mi sono rotto il braccio – I broke my arm
With dates, *if the day of the week is not mentioned before
Il mio compleanno è il 7 (sette) Aprile – My birthday is the 7th of April
*Il mio compleanno è giovedì 7 (sette) Aprile – My birthday is Thursday the 7th of April
Mi sposo il 2 (due) Giugno 2020 (duemilaventi) – I’ll get married on the 2nd of June 2020
With times or other expressions of time
Sono le cinque e mezza – It’s half past five
La mattina mi sveglio alle 7:00 (sette) – I wake up at 7 in the morning
With the days of the weeks to show habitual actions
Il martedì e il giovedì andiamo a lezione di italiano – Every Tuesday and Thursday we go to Italian lessons
Il sabato e la domenica esco sempre con i miei amici – On Saturdays and Sundays I always go out with my friends
With physical descriptions when the verb “avere” (to have) is used
Luca ha gli occhi azzurri – Luca has blue eyes
Maria ha i capelli rossi – Maria has red hair
With titles and qualifications used with names
Il Dottor Bianchi è molto bravo – Doctor Bianchi is very good
Il principe William si è sposato nel 2011 (duemilaundici)– Prince William got married in 2011
With most geographical names, *except for city names and when the prepositions “in” or “di” come before feminine singular geographical names
L’italia ha 20 (venti) regioni – Italy has 20 regions
La Lombardia è una regione italiana – Lombardy is an Italian region
*Vado a vivere in Italia – I’m going to live in Italy
*Il mio ragazzo è di Roma – My boyfriend is from Rome
Sometimes with famous people:
Il Botticelli dipinse la Nascita di Venere – Botticelli painted the Birth of Venus
Sometimes when talking about friends or family members colloquially
La Giulia viene a cena con noi sabato sera – Giulia is coming to dinner with us on Saturday night
Il Mauri è troppo simpatico! – Mauri is too kind!
! Definite articles are not used:
When talking about languages, they cannot be used after the verbs “parlare, insegnare, studiare” and after the prepositions “in” and “di”
Capisco lo spagnolo, ma non l‘italiano – I understand Spanish but not Italian
Alex parla italiano abbastanza bene – Alex speaks Italian quite well
Non so scrivere in inglese – I can’t write in English
With singular possessive adjectives when talking about family members, *except for singular family members with the possessive adjective “loro” or when names have been made more colloquial
Mio fratello si chiama Stefano – My brother is called Stefano
Mio padre ha 62 (sessantadue) anni – My father is 62 years old
*Il loro zio vive a Mosca – Their uncle lives in Moscow
*Sono felice di conoscere la loro figlia – I am happy that I met their daughter
*Il mio fratellino si chiama Gabriele – My little brother is called Gabriele
*La mia cuginetta ha 2 (due) mesi – My little cousin is 2 months old
With city names, *although there are some exceptions such as La Spezia, L’Aquila, L’Avana, Il Cairo, La Mecca
Firenze è una città antica, New York è una città moderna – Florence is an old city, New York is a modern city
*La Spezia si trova in Liguria – La Spezia is in Liguria
Last edited by Flinn; October 27, 2021 at 02:55 AM.