Definite Articles
How to use Definite Articles in
Italiano.
What is a Definite Article?
~A Definite Article is the “the” before a noun.
~ Every noun has a specific definite article.
~Definite articles are decided by the gender
and number of the noun.
~Every noun has a gender, masculine
and feminine. The best way to decide the
gender of a noun is by the last letter or the
definite article.
o & i = masculine
a & e = feminine.
List of Definite Articles
Singular
Masculine
il
lo
l’
Feminine
la
l’
Plural
-
i
gli
gli
-
le
le
When do you use each?
Masculine Definite Articles (in the singular)
il – used with masculine nouns beginning
with a consonant.
ex – il ragazzo, il professore
lo – used with nouns beginning with z, s plus
a consonant, ps, or gn.
ex – lo studente, lo zero, lo psicologo
l’ – is used with nouns, masculine or
feminine, beginning with a vowel.
ex – l’amico, l’orologio, l’amica, l’università
Making Masculine Articles Plural
When the noun becomes plural, the article must
change as well.
il becomes i
ex. i ragazzi, I professori
lo becomes gli
ex. gli studenti, gli zeri
l’ (in the masculine) becomes gli
ex. gli amici, gli orologi
When do you use each?
Feminine Definite Articles (in the singular)
la – used with the singular feminine nouns
ex. La ragazza
la scuola
la casa
l’ – used for both masculine and feminine for any
noun starting with a vowel.
ex – l’amica, l’isola
Making Feminine Articles Plural
When making feminine articles plural, it is
very simple.
Both la and l’ become le when they are
pluralized.
la becomes le
ex. Le ragazze, le scuole
l’ becomes le
ex. Le amiche, le isole
Adesso, è toca voi!
Write in the definite article of each word.
____ orologio
_____ bandiera
____ studenti
_____ professoressa
____ cestino
_____ bacheca
____ professore
_____ amica
____ ragazzo
_____ quaderni
____ banco
_____ Signorina
____ libro
_____ pianta
Gender of Nouns
What is a noun?
~ a person, place or thing
In Italiano, nouns are either Masculine or Feminine
Masculine
~in the singular ends in “o” and becomes an
“i” when it is pluralized.
Feminine
~in the singular, usually ends in “a” and
becomes an “e” when pluralized.
*When a noun ends in an “e” in the singular it can
be either masculine or feminine, and you need
to memorize which ones are which.
Esempi dei nomi
Examples of Nouns:
il ragazzo = the boy ~ i ragazzi = _________
la ragazza = the girl ~ le ragazze = _______
il libro = the book ~ i libri = ____________
la lavagna = the blackboard
~ le lavagne = _______