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What the Italian partitive article actually is

The Italian partitive article is a small fusion: the preposition di plus one of the definite articles (il, lo, la, l’, i, gli, le) glued together into a single word. The result is the seven forms del, dello, dell’, della, dei, degli, delle, used to express the idea of some, a bit of, or a few. The word partitive is a grammatical label for a bigger family of structures across European languages; in practice you can think of the Italian version as one compressed way of saying “a portion of X” without committing to how much.

The gender and number of the partitive agree with the noun that follows, exactly like the definite article it is built on. Before a masculine singular noun starting with most consonants you get del (del pane). Before a masculine singular noun starting with a vowel you get dell’ (dell’olio). Before a masculine singular noun starting with s + consonant, z, ps, gn, or x you get dello (dello zucchero, dello spazio). The feminine follows the same pattern with della and dell’. Plural countables use dei, degli and delle with the same sound triggers.

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The seven-form grid: del, dello, dell’, della, dei, degli, delle

Here is the full grid. The rule of thumb: whatever definite article the noun takes, the partitive fuses it with di. Same gender, same number, same sound rule.

Gender/number	Definite article	Partitive form	Example
masc. sing. (most consonants)	il	del	del pane, del vino, del formaggio
masc. sing. (s+cons, z, ps, gn)	lo	dello	dello zucchero, dello spazio, dello yogurt
masc./fem. sing. (vowel)	l’	dell’	dell’olio, dell’acqua, dell’insalata
fem. sing. (consonant)	la	della	della birra, della carne, della frutta
masc. plural (most consonants)	i	dei	dei libri, dei biscotti, dei fiori
masc. plural (s+cons, z, vowel)	gli	degli	degli amici, degli ospiti, degli studenti
fem. plural	le	delle	delle scarpe, delle fragole, delle amiche

The partitive is always a single written word. You never split it into di il or di lo in writing. The only written variant is the apostrophe form dell’, which is mandatory before a vowel in the singular and optional in the plural (degli amici is the only option; dell’amici does not exist).

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Partitive with uncountable nouns: ho comprato del pane

Uncountable nouns (food, liquids, abstract masses) are the classic home of the partitive. The speaker signals that they took or want some of the substance without saying how much. The singular partitive is the default: del, dello, della, dell’. In English you often translate with some or with no article at all.

• Al mercato di Porta Palazzo ho comprato del pane integrale e della frutta di stagione.
  At the Porta Palazzo market I bought some wholemeal bread and some seasonal fruit.
• Se passi dal panificio, prendi anche del lievito fresco e della farina tipo zero.
  If you stop by the bakery, get some fresh yeast and some type-00 flour too.
• Mia zia ha portato dello zafferano della Sardegna e una bottiglia di vino bianco.
  My aunt brought some Sardinian saffron and a bottle of white wine.
• Per la torta serve dell’olio extravergine, non del burro.
  The cake needs some extra virgin olive oil, not butter.
• In dispensa c’è ancora del caffè macinato, ma il sacco è quasi vuoto.
  There is still some ground coffee in the pantry, but the bag is almost empty.
• Durante la prova del coro abbiamo bevuto dell’acqua frizzante per schiarirci la voce.
  During the choir rehearsal we drank some sparkling water to clear our throats.

Two nuances worth noticing. First, the partitive is optional when the context already makes the idea of “some” clear: ho comprato pane and ho comprato del pane are both acceptable and mean roughly the same. The partitive just softens the sentence and foregrounds the unspecified quantity. Second, when the noun is modified by a precise measure you drop the partitive and use di + noun without the article: un chilo di pane, due litri d’acqua, una fetta di formaggio, not un chilo del pane.

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Partitive with countable plurals: ho invitato degli amici

For countable nouns in the plural the partitive means some, a few, a handful of. It is very productive in informal and spoken Italian: dei libri, degli amici, delle domande, dei fiori. Standard Italian prefers the partitive over English a few or some in most neutral contexts; qualche and alcuni are alternatives, not substitutes, and we will compare them in a dedicated section below.

• Per la cena di sabato ho invitato degli amici che non vedo da mesi.
  For Saturday’s dinner I invited some friends I have not seen for months.
• In libreria ho trovato dei romanzi interessanti per le vacanze estive.
  At the bookshop I found some interesting novels for the summer holidays.
• Il fioraio mi ha consigliato delle piante resistenti per il balcone a nord.
  The florist suggested some hardy plants for the north-facing balcony.
• Al corso di cucina abbiamo preparato dei biscotti alle mandorle e una crostata.
  At the cooking class we made some almond biscuits and a tart.
• Prima della riunione ti mando delle slide con gli ultimi dati delle cooperative.
  Before the meeting I will send you some slides with the latest cooperative data.
• Al mercatino di Porta Portese ho comprato dei quadri a pochi euro.
  At the Porta Portese flea market I bought some paintings for a few euro.

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Why the partitive disappears in negative sentences

Negative sentences strip out the partitive almost by default. Italian handles “I don’t have bread” as non ho pane, not non ho del pane. The logic is simple: if you are denying that something exists at all, you are not carving out a portion of it. There is nothing to take a piece of. The partitive is about “some of X is there”; the negation says “zero of X is there”, and the grammar lines up with the meaning.

• In casa non ho pane, devo passare dal panificio prima di cena.
  I have no bread at home, I need to stop by the bakery before dinner.
• Stasera non c’è vino, però ho birra in frigo.
  There is no wine tonight, but I have beer in the fridge.
• Non abbiamo ospiti questo fine settimana, quindi puoi venire con calma.
  We have no guests this weekend, so you can come at your leisure.
• La biblioteca non ha copie disponibili del libro, bisogna prenotarlo.
  The library has no available copies of the book, you need to reserve it.
• Non vedo amici in giro, forse sono già andati al parco.
  I see no friends around, maybe they have already gone to the park.

The drop is not mechanical. When the negation is followed by a contrast or specification, the partitive resurfaces: non voglio del pane qualunque, voglio quello del panificio di via Roma (I don’t want any old bread, I want the one from the bakery in via Roma). Here the partitive points to a specific portion the speaker is rejecting, so the grammar keeps it.

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Formal writing tends to omit the partitive

In formal registers (academic prose, legal writing, journalism with a measured tone) the partitive tends to disappear. Writers reach for the bare noun, for alcuni/alcune, or for explicit quantifiers. “I collected some testimonies” is more likely to be written as ho raccolto testimonianze or ho raccolto alcune testimonianze than ho raccolto delle testimonianze. None of these are wrong; the partitive simply sounds more conversational.

• La commissione ha valutato alcune proposte e ne ha respinte due per ragioni tecniche.
  The committee evaluated some proposals and rejected two of them on technical grounds.
• Lo studio analizza comportamenti di consumo in tre regioni del Paese.
  The study analyses consumption behaviours in three regions of the country.
• Il regolamento prevede sanzioni per chi non rispetta le scadenze.
  The regulation provides penalties for those who miss the deadlines.

The opposite is true in conversation, WhatsApp messages, blog posts and informal prose: the partitive is everywhere. A Milanese friend asking what you bought at the supermarket is much more likely to hear ho preso delle mele, del pane e della mozzarella than a list without partitives. Matching the register to the situation is more useful than memorising “rules” about when to drop it.

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Partitive vs qualche vs alcuni: three ways to say “some”

The partitive plural (dei, degli, delle) overlaps with two other ways of saying “some, a few” for countable nouns: qualche and alcuni/alcune. The three are interchangeable in many sentences but they carry different grammatical baggage.

Form	Noun shape	Gender/number	Register
dei / degli / delle	plural countable	agrees with noun	neutral/informal
qualche	always singular, plural meaning	invariable	neutral
alcuni / alcune	plural countable	agrees with noun	slightly more formal

The tricky one is qualche: it always sits in front of a singular noun but the meaning is plural. Qualche amico means “a few friends”, not “one friend”. This confuses English speakers because the visual signal (singular noun) clashes with the meaning (plural quantity). The other two, dei/degli/delle and alcuni/alcune, pair naturally with plural nouns the way English would expect.

• Ho invitato dei colleghi, ho invitato qualche collega, ho invitato alcuni colleghi. All three mean roughly the same: I invited a few colleagues.
• Al mercato ho comprato delle fragole, qualche fragola, alcune fragole. Again, three ways of saying “some strawberries” with the same overall meaning.
• In biblioteca ci sono dei libri di storia, qualche libro di storia, alcuni libri di storia. Three equivalent ways to refer to “some history books” on the shelf.

Where they diverge slightly: qualche stresses the small quantity (“a handful”), alcuni leans a shade more formal and often appears in writing, and the partitive is the most neutral option in speech. For uncountables you cannot use qualche or alcuni; the singular partitive or un po’ di are your only choices.

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Un po’ di: the uncountable-only alternative

For uncountable nouns the partitive singular competes with un po’ di, literally “a little of”. The two are close but not identical. Un po’ di emphasises a small quantity, and it never fuses with the definite article: the preposition stays bare, no del/della. It can also attach to abstract nouns (un po’ di pazienza, un po’ di tempo) where the partitive would sound odd.

• Mi serve un po’ di pazienza prima di rispondere alla mail del direttore.
  I need a bit of patience before replying to the director’s email.
• Ti preparo un po’ di pasta al pesto, così mangiamo qualcosa di veloce.
  I will make you a bit of pesto pasta, so we can eat something quickly.
• Il cane vuole sempre un po’ di attenzione quando rientro dal lavoro.
  The dog always wants a bit of attention when I come home from work.
• Ci vorrà un po’ di tempo per abituarsi al fuso orario dopo il viaggio.
  It will take a bit of time to adjust to the time zone after the trip.

The informal spelling un po’ with the apostrophe is the short form of un poco. The apostrophe is mandatory: un po without it is considered a misspelling. A very common anglophone error is writing un pò with a grave accent; native Italians flag this immediately as wrong.

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The particle ne replaces the partitive

When the noun is already clear from context and you do not want to repeat it, Italian uses ne to represent the partitive portion. Ne means “some of it” or “of them” and clicks onto the verb like any other pronoun, with the same agreement rules for past participles when paired with avere.

• Hai comprato del pane? Sì, ne ho comprato un chilo.
  Did you buy some bread? Yes, I bought a kilo of it.
• Ci sono amici italiani a Berlino? Ne conosco alcuni che lavorano in una casa editrice.
  Are there any Italian friends in Berlin? I know some who work at a publishing house.
• Vuoi delle fragole? Grazie, ne prendo due o tre, non di più.
  Would you like some strawberries? Thanks, I will take two or three, not more.
• Avete domande sulla presentazione? Ne avremmo alcune sulla sezione tre.
  Do you have any questions on the presentation? We would have some on section three.
• C’è ancora dello zucchero? Ce n’è un po’, forse basta per il caffè.
  Is there still some sugar? There is a bit, maybe enough for the coffee.

Notice how the partitive is not repeated once ne is in the sentence: you say ne ho comprato un chilo, not ne ho comprato del pane. The particle already carries the “some of it” meaning. Past participles agree with the quantity only when ne refers to a countable plural: ne ho presi tre (three of them, masc.), ne ho prese tre (three of them, fem.).

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Common mistakes English speakers make

• Keeping the partitive in negative sentences. Non ho del pane is the kind of sentence an English speaker produces by translating word-for-word. Say non ho pane. The rule is not absolute (contrastive contexts keep the partitive), but the default is drop.
• Pairing qualche with a plural noun. Qualche amici is wrong. Qualche always goes with a singular noun even when the meaning is plural: qualche amico.
• Writing un po’ without the apostrophe, or worse un pò with the accent. The correct form is un po’, apostrophe only.
• Splitting di + articolo in writing. The partitive is always written as one word: della frutta, not di la frutta. The split form does not exist in standard Italian.
• Using dei / delle with a precise measure. When you specify a quantity, drop the article entirely: un chilo di mele, due litri d’acqua, una fetta di torta, not un chilo delle mele.
• Forgetting ne when the noun is omitted. English can just say “I bought three”; Italian needs the particle: ne ho comprati tre. Without ne the sentence sounds truncated.

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Quiz: Italian partitive articles

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FAQ: Italian partitive articles

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Related guides: Italian indefinite adjectives and pronouns: ogni, qualche, alcuni · Italian compound prepositions: del, allo, sulla, nei · Ci and ne: the two tricky Italian particles.