The definite article



  SINGULAR PLURAL BEFORE
MASCULINE IL I consonant (b, c, d, f, g, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v)
  LO GLI s+ consonant, z, ps, gn, pn, x, semi consonant
  L' GLI vowel, h
FEMININE LA LE consonant, semi consonant
  L' LE vowel, h

INDEFINITE

  SINGULAR BEFORE
MASCULINE UN consonant, vowel, h
  UNO s+ consonant, z, ps, gn, pn, x, semi consonant
FEMININE UNA consonant, semi consonant
  UN' vowel, h

PARTITIVE

  SINGULAR PLURAL BEFORE
MASCULINE DEL DEI consonant
  DELLO DEGLI s+ consonant, z, ps, gn, pn, x, semi consonant
  DELL' DEGLI vowel, h
FEMININE DELLA DELLE consonant, semi consonant
  DELL' DELLE vowel, h

Note: for oral practice see "Oral Drills on Italian Grammar #1".

The choice of the article form depends on the sound of the following term first letters. See also preposizioni articolate". The choice is sometimes uncertain, specially for unusual sound in Italian.

According to the grammar in front of terms starting with ps, pn, gn and x we should use "lo" and "uno", one can find on some newspaper also: il psicologo, il pneumatico, il xilofono, il gnocco.

In front of a semi consonant, the article does not take an apostrophe and must be fully pronounced:

lo/uno iato, ioduro, iettatore, iodio, ione, Ionio, iugero, Iugoslavo

la/una iattanza, iattura, iella, iena, iuta.

With some foreign terms the uncertainty is even more evident with some sounds, i.e.:

with the letter we may have but also
j il jet, il judo lo judo
y lo yoga, lo yogurt, lo yacht l'yacht, gli yacht
  lo yeti l'yeti
w il weekend, i weekend l'weekend, gli weekend (pronounced as if were "l'uikend")
x il xilofono lo xilofono
h lo Hegel, l'Hegel il Hegel

With foreign terms one should consider the sound not only the initial consonant:

in front of but in front of
choc we use lo : lo choc chopper we use il (il chopper)
w (sound u) we may use lo: l'walkie-talkie, l'whisky w (sound v) we use il: il wagon-lit

The  Gender of an Italian term do not correspond necessarily to the equivalent English/American term imported.

Notte (night) is feminine, but the imported English term night (used for night club) is masculine. Therefore we say:

il night.

The following expressions represent an exceptions to the rules:

per lo più mostly
per lo meno at least
gli dei the gods
Passata la festa gabbato lo santo once on shore we pray no more

This uncertainty is also very evident when we compare Modern and Old Italian. Examples:

lo frate sole, lo quale jorna... (San Francesco d'Assisi, sec. XIII);

lo tuo figliolo è preso... (Jacopone da Todi, sec. XIII)

lo esemplo delle azioni sua... (Niccolò Machiavelli, sec. XVI)

fischiando il zappator... (Giacomo Leopardi, XIX sec.)

The feminine form "la" in front of a female last name starting by vowel does not take an apostrophe: "la Aleramo", means Sibilla Aleramo.

The article is particularly important with invariable nouns because is the only way to know gender and number of a term (see also "Nomi invariabili"):

il re, i re; il boia, i boia.

The adjectives BELLO and QUELLO follow the same rules of the Definite article.

  SINGULAR   PLURAL   BEFORE
MASCULINE Bèl (canto) Quél (canto) Bèi (cani) Quéi (cani) consonant
  Bèllo (specchio) Quéllo (specchio) Bègli (specchi) Quégli (specchi) s+ consonant, z, ps, pn, gn, x semi consonant
  Bèll' (uomo) Quéll' (uomo) Bègli (uomini) Quégli (uomini) vowel
FEMININE Bèlla (casa) Quélla (casa) Bèlle (case) Quélle (case) consonant, semi consonant
  Bèll' (aiuola) Quéll' (aiuola) Bèlle (aiuole) Quélle (aiuole) vowel

ATTENZIONE:

i bei libri (because the consonant "l" requires " i ") but
i libri belli (because "belli " follows the word to which it refers)
i begli specchi (because "s impura" requires " gli ") but
gli specchi belli (because "belli " follows the word to which it refers)

Pronunciation:

The e of bello is open in all forms.

The e of quello is closed in all forms.

BUONO, NESSUNO, CIASCUNO and ALCUNO follow the same rule of the Indefinite article.

  SINGULAR BEFORE
MASCULINE Buon consonant, vowel, h
  Buono s+ consonant, z, ps, gn, pn, x, semi consonant
FEMININE Buona consonant, semi consonant
  Buon' vowel

Pronunciation:

The o in buono is open in all forms.

 

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