Grammar: Articles

Definite articles in Italian are the equivalent to “the” in English. They agree in gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural) with the noun they precede.
Masculine singular definite articles come in two forms: ‘il’ for words starting with a consonant (e.g. ‘il libro’ - ‘the book’), and ‘lo’ for words beginning with z, ps, gn, s + consonant or a vowel (e.g. ‘lo zio’ - ‘the uncle’).
Feminine singular definite articles use ‘la’ before words beginning with a consonant, and ‘l’’ before words beginning with a vowel or h (e.g. ‘la scuola’ - ‘the school’, ‘l’amica’ - ‘the friend’).
Masculine plural definite articles use ‘i’ before words beginning with a consonant, and ‘gli’ before words beginning with z, ps, gn, s + consonant or an vowel. (e.g. ‘gli zii’ - ‘the uncles’).
Feminine plural nouns generally take ‘le’ (e.g. ‘le scuole’ - ‘the schools’).

Indefinite articles in Italian correspond to “a” or “an” in English. They also agree in gender and number with the nouns they precede.
Masculine singular indefinite articles use ‘un’ before most words (e.g. ‘un libro’ - ‘a book’), and ‘uno’ before words beginning with z or s + consonant (e.g. ‘uno studente’ - ‘a student’).
Feminine singular indefinite articles use ‘una’ before words beginning with a consonant (e.g. ‘una casa’ - ‘a house’), and ‘un’’ before words beginning with a vowel or h (e.g.’un’ora’ - ‘an hour’).
Italian does not have a specific form for plural indefinite articles. Often, “some” or “a few” is used as an equivalent (e.g. ‘studenti’ can refer to ‘some students’).

Partitive articles express an indeterminate quantity of something, and they are formed by combining ‘di’ + definite article. For example ‘del pane’ (some bread), delle mele (some apples), etc.
Use partitive articles when referring to uncountable things. For example food, materials, abstract concepts.

Italian uses articles more frequently than English, even before someone’s name in some cases (e.g. ‘La Maria’).
Remember to laison the final vowel of one word with the starting vowel of the next word to make your Italian sound more fluent.
Always double check gender and number of the noun to ensure proper use of articles.