The Definite Article - L'articolo determinativo

L'articolo determinativo— The Definite Article

This is the grammatical name for the English word “the”.

1 Feminine nouns — easy.

If the feminine noun is singular, use LA (or abbreviate it to L'if the noun begins with a vowel). If the feminine noun is plural use LE and never abbreviate it, even if the noun begins with a vowel. For example:

singular	plural
la ragazza	le ragazze
la casa	le case
l'ora	le ore
l'erba	le erbe
la chiave	le chiavi
la notte	le notti
l'opinione	le opinioni
l'opportunità	le opportunità

2 Masculine nouns — tricky.
There is only one word for "the" for feminine nouns, but before a masculine noun you need to choose between IL and LO. You make the choice depending on how the masculine noun begins. You should find that you choose IL most of the time. Here are the rules:

1. Use IL and its plural I when the masculine noun begins with a consonant.
2. Use LO and its plural GLI when the masculine noun begins with a vowel, or z or “impure s” — i.e. the letter s followed by another consonant. LO can be abbreviated to L' before a word beginning with a vowel.
3. Remember that any nouns borrowed from another language are masculine and have no plural.

This table summarises all you need to know about masculine nouns and there articles:

singular	plural
il ragazzo	i ragazzi
il ristorante	i ristoranti
l'albergo	gli alberghi
lo sbaglio	gli sbagli
lo zio	gli zii
l'ufficiale	gli ufficiali
lo sport	gli sport
il film	i film

If you can master how to change words from singular to plural a huge amount of Italian grammar will become very easy. It is vital that you try very hard to master this piece of grammar before you move on.
If you can master the definite article, you will be able to understand and use correctly some necessary but rather tricky pieces of Italian grammar, so try to master this before you move on.
L'articolo indeterminativo — The Indefinite Article
This is the grammatical name for the English word “a”.
1 Feminine nouns — easy.
The word for “a” before a feminine noun is una which can be abbreviated to un' if the noun begins with a vowel.
2 Masculine nouns — less easy.
The usual word is un which is used before all masculine nouns (including those which begin with a vowel) except those which begin with z or s impure. Study the following table which should explain it all.

masculine	feminine
un ragazzo	una ragazza
un amico	un'amica
un ospedale	un'intezione
uno sconto	una scarpa
uno specchio	una specie
uno zingaro	una zingara
un salmone	una salsiccia
un trattore	una trattoria

Nouns - I NOMI

I NOMI

Nouns (and how to make them plural)

Italian nouns are divided into two genders: masculine and feminine.

Italian nouns end in 3 possible ways:

-A    like pizza, pasta, casa

-O    like bambino, minuto, disegno

-E    like ristorante, studente, ospedale

Words borrowed from another language like sport, weekend, jogging, film are masculine and have no plural form.

1. Nouns which end in -A are nearly always feminine; to make them plural change -A to -E: e.g.
casa = house ; houses = case
pizza = pizza ; pizzas = pizze
porta = door ; doors = porte

2. Nouns which end in -O are nearly always masculine; to make them plural change -O to -I: e.g.
ragazzo = boy ; boys = ragazzi
gelato = ice cream ; ice creams = gelati
tempo = time ; times = tempi

3. Nouns which end in -E can be either masculine or feminine and you have to learn the gender when you learn the word; to make these nouns plural change -E to -I :e.g.
ristorante = restaurant ; restaurants = ristoranti
notte = night ; nights = notti
studente = student ; students = studenti

Notes:
1. Many nouns in Italian end in -ità (note the grave accent on the final -a). These nouns do not have a plural form. Nor does the noun città (city).

2. Look at these two masculine nouns: zio (plural zii) and occhio (plural occhi). You will only find two 'i's if the 'i' in the singular carries the stress of the word.

3. Spelling: Nouns ending in -ca and -ga are spelt -che and -ghe in the plural: e.g.

banca = bank ; banks = banche
riga = line ; lines = righe

Nouns ending in -co and -go are spelt -chi and -ghi in the plural: e.g.

fico = fig ; figs = fichi
fungo = mushroom ; mushrooms = funghi

Exercise 1: Turn all the nouns below into the plural. (This is not an interactive exercise; you'll have to use paper and check your answers)

porta ; finestra ; gatto ; cane ; ombrello ; ospedale ; cerimonia ; opportunità ; film ; posto ; lago ; unione ; spiaggia ; giacca ; albergo ; sbaglio ; sacco ; università ; sport ; città.

N.B. THIS IS NOT AN EXHAUSTIVE SET OF RULES: THERE ARE SOME IRREGULAR NOUNS WHICH ARE NOT DEALT WITH HERE. LEARN THEM AS YOU MEET THEM!
However, you ought to know the following:
A. These nouns are masculine although they end in -a:

1. il cinema
2. Nouns ending in -ma which are Greek in origin.

il clima

il diploma

il problema

il programma

il tema (theme)

B. Nouns ending in -ista correspond to English nouns ending in -ist; they denote people who do things and can be masculine or feminine; the plural can be -isti or -iste depending on the gender.
C. The noun mano is feminine even although it end in -o: la mano and the plural is le mani.
D. Some masculine nouns have strange plurals:

singular	plural
il braccio (arm)	le braccia
il dito (finger)	le dita
l'osso (bone)	le ossa
il labbro (lip)	le labbra
l'uovo (egg)	le uova
il paio (pair)	le paia

E. These two nouns are irregular!

singular	plural
l'uomo (man)	gli uomini
la moglie (wife)	le mogli