Quiz for beginners – Italian articles


 

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Articolo sì o no? – Guide and quiz.

Learn the cases when we don’t need to put the article in Italian.

You probably came across a sentence like:

  • il mio amico è simpatico.

And then you  learned that:

  • il Mio fratello è simpatico.

So, the rule says that we have to omit the article before mio, tuo, suo, nostro, vostro fratello, or any family member (singular), but not before  il loro fratello, la loro sorella and so on. Loro (their) is different, we need the article.

On top of that, we always need to put it before the plural i miei, i tuoi, i suoi, i nostri, i vostri, i loro fratelli le loro sorelle etcetera.

When we use diminutives, we can say Il nostro fratellino, La mia nonnina.


Another strange one without articles is in cases like:

  • sono… affari miei, problemi tuoi, amici nostri, cavoli vostri…

Geography

Names of cities and small islands do not have an article.

  • Venezia, Milano, Firenze, Capri… There are exceptions, such as L’Aquila, La Spezia, l’Elba.

We put an article if we describe a particular aspect of a city (called attributo in grammar).

  • La Venezia dei Dogi, La Milano da bere, La Firenze dei Medici and so on.

Mountains and rivers do have the article.

  • Il Monte Bianco, l’Everest, il Gran Sasso, le Alpi, le Ande, il Po, il Tevere, l’Arno.

Big Islands generally have an article.

  • La Sicilia, la Sardegna, il Madagascar… ma Cipro, Taiwan, Cuba.

Regions and nations have articles.

  • La Toscana, l’Umbria, la Lombardia, il Veneto, le Marche and la Francia, la Russia, l’Australia, il Canada, l’Inghilterra, gli Stati Uniti.

If you didn’t do that yet, go and vote for your favourite Italian region on our Forum.


Names

Names of people don’t like articles. Fabio, Marco, Andrea, Laura, Valeria etc have no article.

However, I’m from Milan and  authentic milanesi say “Ho telefonato al Gianni” or ” Mi piace la Lucia”, but this is regional Italian.

In very formal Italian language, written and spoken in tribunals, in history or literature books, last names may have an article, when a particular person is or was unique. So, you can find:

  • il Petrarca, l’Ariosto, il Tintoretto, il Mantegna… but also Dante, Garibaldi, Mazzini, Putin, Trump (no, we don’t say “il Donald”). without the article.

It seems that some artists go with the articles, politicians don’t.


Particular cases

No articles:

When some expressions are uses as adverb:

  • di fretta, di proposito, a stento, di solito ….
  • con calma, con pazienza, con odio, con sicurezza …

With some “motion to place” or location.

  • vado in ufficio, torno a casa, lavoro in campagna, vengo in chiesa …

With verbs and nouns usually going together.

  • ho fame, abbiamo sete, sento caldo, prova dolore, prendi tempo, fai pena…

With “da” to explain the function of an object.

  • il coltello da cucina, le carte da gioco, il tavolo da giardino, le scarpe da ginnastica…

On billboards and signs.

  • arrivi, partenze, tabaccheria, divieto di sosta, parcheggio riservato, fine.

I’m sure I forgot some.

Alla prossima.

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Painting: Vittorio Matteo Corcos: Una donna elegante a St. Malo (1933)

Italian articles – Basic Rules & Quiz

Italian articles are of 2 types: determinativi (definite) and indeterminativi (indefinite)

All Italian articles agree in gender and number with a noun. There are 2 genders in the Italian language: maschile (masculine) and femminile (feminine) and they can be singular or plural.

  • The articolo determinativo, in Italian, is used to introduce nouns which refer to specific items. They are equivalent to the English “the“.
  • Same for the articolo indeterminativo, equivalent to the English “a” referring generically to an object.

Depending on the gender and number of the object they describe, articles change.


For example, we can say, La casa è grande, the house is big, using the article LA, singular feminine, because the noun casa is singular feminine. We are clearly referring to a specific house, because LA is an articolo determinativo. The house.

If we say, Vorrei una casa grande, I’d like a big house, we use the article UNA, singular feminine. In this case we need to use UNA, articolo indeterminativo, just “a” house.

Let’s see them all in detail.


Articoli determinativi

Articoli determinativi maschili – Masculine Definite Articles

il and its plural i are the most used

  • il cane, i cani

Lo, and its plural Gli are exceptions, used in the following cases: masculine nouns beginning with: a vowel, s + consonantz, gnpspn.

  • L’amico, Gli amici
  • Lo studente, Gli studenti
  • Lo zaino, Gli zaini
  • Lo gnocco, Gli gnocchi
  • Lo psichiatra, Gli psichiatri
  • Lo pneumatico, Gli pneumatici

The first case, masculine noun beginning with a vowel, is by far the most common case where we need Lo (L’) and Gli. S + consonant and Z are pretty common, the last three are rare, so don’t worry too much.

A classic example is lo spazio, gli spazi. In case of a vowel we use L’amico


Articoli determinativi femminili – Feminine Definite Articles

Feminine articles, are less complicated. We have la singolare and le plurale.

  • La casa, Le case

In case of a noun beginning with a vowel we use L’ because of the smoother sound.

  • L’amica, Le amiche


Articoli indeterminativi

Articolo indeterminativo maschile UN, is by far the most used, for all masculine nouns beginning with a vowel or a consonant

  • Un amico
  • Un cane

Articolo indeterminativo maschile UNO, not used together with nouns beginning with a vowel (uno amico —> un amico). Other that that, it matches the cases valid with “Lo”: s + consonantz, gnpspn:

  • Uno studente
  • Uno zaino
  • Uno gnocco
  • Uno psichiatra
  • Uno pneumatico

Articolo indeterminativo femminile UNA, is used for all feminine nouns, except when they begin with a vowel, in which case we use the truncated form UN’. So, we can say una casa, but un’amica , a female friend:

  • Una casa
  • Un’amica


Please take your time, solve the quiz below and repeat the correct sounds. A presto.

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