Italian definite articles
Italian loves its articles and I am sure after this little guide you will love them too.
Let’s start from the very beginning. What is an article? An article is that little word that you can find before a noun. Think of words like “the table”, “the island”, “the elephant” - “the” is the article, the definite article actually. You can also say “a table”, “a street”, “an elephant” and those are articles too, but we have talked about them before, here.
Articles distinguish the generic from the specific, the known from the unknown:
Puoi vedere un cane dalla finestra = You can see a dog from the window. [unknown dog]
Puoi vedere il cane dalla finestra = You can see the dog from the window. [our dog or a dog we know about]
Now let's focus on the second type, these ‘specific or definite articles’.
il - lo - l’ - i - gli (mas)
la - l’ - le (fem)
In Italian the form of the article has to agree with the gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) of the noun it is attached to. But it also depends on the initial letter of the word which follows. We have definite articles both for singular and plural nouns. How can we decide which one we need?
First of all, we have to know if our word is masculine or feminine [how? - head here for gender of Italian nouns].
Feminine nouns (LA, L’, LE)
Is it a feminine word? Does it start with a consonant (B, C, D, F, …)? Then you need the article LA:
casa = house —— la casa = the house
macchina = car —— la macchina = the car
voce = voice —— la voce = the voice
When we turn these nouns into the plural, the article LA becomes LE:
la casa (the house) — le case (the houses)
la macchina (the car) — le macchine (the cars)
la voce (the voice) — le voci (the voices)
Is it a feminine word? Yes. Is it starting with a vowel (A, E, I, O, U)? Then you need the article L’ .
[do you see that little apostrophe? In Italian we don't like the sound of two vowels one immediately after the other, so we usually drop the final vowel in the first word. L’ stands for LA, where the final A has been dropped in front of the following vowel]
insalata = salad —— l’ insalata = the salad
isola = island —— l’ isola = the island
ape = bee —— l’ ape = the bee
When we turn these nouns into the plural, the article L’ again becomes LE [no, plural articles don’t drop the first vowel, not even in front of words starting with another vowel]:
l’ insalata (the salad) — le insalate (the salads)
l’ isola (the island) — le isole (the salads)
l’ ape (the bee) — le api (the bees)
Masculine nouns (il, L’, lo, i, gli)
Is it a masculine word? Does it start with a ‘simple consonant’ (B, C, D, F, G, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V) ? Then you need the article IL:
telefono = telephone —— il telefono = the telephone
libro = book —— il libro = the book
cane = dog —— il cane = the dog
When we turn these nouns into the plural, the article IL becomes I:
il telefono (the telephone) — i telefoni (the telephones)
il libro (the book) — i libri (the books)
il cane (the dog) — i cani (the dogs)
Is it a masculine word? Does it start with a vowel (A, E, I, O, U)? Then you need the article L’:
amico = friend —— l’amico = the friend
elefante = elephant —— l’elefante = the elephant
ombrello = umbrella —— l’ombrello = the umbrella
When we turn these nouns into the plural, the article L’ becomes GLI*:
l’amico (the friend) — gli amici (the friends)
l’elefante (the elephant) — gli elefanti (the elephants)
l’ombrello (the umbrella) — gli ombrelli (the umbrellas)
Is it a masculine word? Is it starting with a ‘special consonant’? [Special consonants are: S when followed by another consonant (SB, SC, SD, ST, …) or one of the following letters (Z, X, Y, PS, PN, GN)] - Then you will use the article LO:
studente = student —— lo studente = the student
scrittore = writer —— lo scrittore = the writer
zucchino = courgette —— lo zucchino = the courgette
yogurt = yogurt —— lo yogurt = the yogurt
When we turn these nouns into the plural, the article LO becomes GLI*:
lo studente (the student) — gli studenti (the students)
lo scrittore (the writer) — gli scrittori (the writers)
lo zucchino (the courgette) — gli zucchini (the courgettes)
lo yogurt (the yogurt) — gli yogurt (the yogurts)
All clear? Let’s recap:
Feminine:
la (s) - le (p) + when the words begin with a consonant
l’ (s) - le (p) + when the words begin with a vowel
Masculine:
il (s) - i (p) + when the words begin with a ‘simple consonant’ (B, C, D, F, G, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V)
l’ (s) - gli (p) + when the words begin with a vowel
lo (s) - gli (p) + when the words begin with [s + consonant], gn, pn, ps, x, z, y
(!) How do you pronounce “gli” in Italian?
First of all, pretend the “g” is not there. Forget about it just like you forget about the “k” in English words like “know”. The closest phonetic explanation of "gli" for English-speakers is "lyee" - "L" followed by "yee". Try it!
NOW IT'S TIME TO PUT WHAT YOU HAVE JUST LEARNT INTO PRACTICE!
Test yourself
___ amica — ___ amiche
___ treno — ___ treni
___ scuola — ___ scuole
___ birra — ___ birre
___ panino — ___ panini
___ psicologo — ___ psicologi
___ aperitivo — ___ aperitivi
___ stadio — ___ stadi
___ idea — ___ idee
___ parco — ___ parchi
___ italiano — ___ italiani
Answers
1. l’ / le - 2. il / i - 3. la / le - 4. la / le - 5. il / i - 6. lo / gli - 7. l’ / gli - 8. lo / gli - 9. l’ / le - 10. il / i - 11. l’ / gli