Effective Italian © Sarah Panico 2022

ARTICOLI DETERMINATIVI

SINGULAR PLURAL

MASCULINE

Before a consonant IL I

Before S + consonant, LO GLI

z,y,x,gn-,ps-

Before a vowel L’ GLI

FEMININE

Before a consonant LA LE

Before a vowel L’ LE

The definite article corresponds to the english “the”. In Italian it has different forms ,
depending on the gender and the number of the following word, and on the letter the
following word begins with.

We use it:

• when the noun is “ determined” ( it has been mentioned before)

• with nouns used in a general sense ( e.g. Il tempo vola/ amo la musica jazz)
• with names indicating a category
• before a title followed by a surname, except when addressing the person directly: La
Signora Rossi/ Il Dottor Bianchi.
• with names of countries and regions, e.g. l’Inghilterra (England), la Toscana
(Tuscany), il Portogallo (Portugal), l’Europa (Europe). But the rule may be different
when using a preposition, e.g. in Italia.
• with years, e.g. il 1990, il 2000 or with dates e.g. il 27 Maggio

Effective Italian © Sarah Panico 2022

ARTICOLI INDETERMINATIVI

SINGULAR PLURAL

MASCULINE

Before a consonant UN DEI

Before S + consonant, UNO DEGLI

z,y,x,gn-,ps-

Before a vowel UN DEGLI

FEMININE

Before a consonant UNA DELLE

Before a vowel UN’ DELLE

The indefinite article corresponds to the English “a/an” and it is used when the name has
not been mentioned before. In Italian it has different forms , depending on the gender
and the number of the following word, and on the letter the following word begins with.

• Un/uno/una/un’ are used for singular nouns.

• Dei/ degli/ delle is used for plural nouns. Because it denotes an undefined quantity, the
plural for of the indefinite article is also called “partitivo” (partitive).