Italian Articles Explained: The Complete Guide to Definite, Indefinite & Partitive Articles

So, what’s an article in grammar? An article is a little word you put before a noun (or after, in some languages) to show if you’re talking about something specific or not.

There are three kinds of Italian articles, and they all go before the noun:

• definite articles, when talking about specific things (English “the”)
• indefinite articles, when talking about general things (English “a/an”)
• partitive articles, when talking about groups of things (“some”, “a few”)

In this article, I’m going to teach you when and how to use definite, indefinite, and partitive Italian articles. Let’s get started!

Italian definite articles

We said that definite articles are used to talk about something specific.

There’s just one definite article in English, “the”. Italian has several, but don’t worry, they’re actually pretty easy to learn!

Italian definite articles can be masculine, feminine, singular or plural. So, there are four groups of Italian definite articles:

• masculine singular articles
• masculine plural articles
• feminine singular articles
• feminine plural articles

The table below shows all the Italian articles in each group.

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	il, lo, l’	i, gli
Feminine	la, l’	le

Let’s say you want to talk about a particular Italian cook, cuoco. This word is masculine in Italian and is used to refer to one thing (singular). So, you’ll have to choose between il, lo, and l’. How? We’ll get to the bottom of it in the next section.

How to use the Italian definite articles

When to use il

You use il when a noun starts with a consonant. There are a few exceptions to this rule:

• s+consonant (st-, sp-, sb-, sv-, sc-, etc.)
• “sh” sound (sci-, scia-, scio-, etc.)
• z-, gn-, ps-, pn-, semi-vowels, and x–

Since “c” is a consonant and it’s not one of the exceptions, we’ll use il cuore to say “the heart.”

Other examples using il:

• il bacio (the kiss)
• il quadro (the painting)
• il lupo (the wolf)
• il satellite (the satellite)

When to use lo

Lo is used before nouns that start with a consonant in all cases where il isn’t used. Basically, just the exceptions from the previous paragraph!

So let’s say we know a very good psychologist, psicologo. We know the rule says we can’t use il with nouns starting with “ps-“. So we will use lo, lo psicologo, “the psychologist”.

Other examples with lo:

• lo studio (the study)
• lo sciame (the swarm)
• lo zoo (the zoo)
• lo yogurt (the yogurt)

When to use l’

The sign ‘ is called an apostrophe. In Italian, just like in English, you use an apostrophe to show that a letter has been cut. For example, “it is” becomes “it’s”.

L’ is used before nouns that start with a vowel. It’s the short form of lo, but you can’t use lo with an Italian noun that starts with a vowel.

Let’s say there is a tree in your garden, an albero. A is a vowel, so we will say l’albero, “the tree”. Never say lo albero, unless you want to sound like a knight straight out of Orlando furioso.

Just a heads-up: semi-vowels i, j, and y use lo, since semi-vowels behave like consonants with Italian articles.

Other examples with l’:

• l’arco (the bow)
• l’elmo (the helmet)
• l’incontro (the encounter)
• l’orto (the vegetable garden)
• l’ululato (the howling)

As you can see in the table above, plural masculine Italian definite articles (that is…a mouthful!) are i and gli. Let’s take a look at how to use them.

When to use i

If you use il in the singular, you use i in the plural. So, the same exceptions that you had before still apply here.

• s+consonant (st-, sp-, sb-, sv-, sc-, etc.)
• “sh” sound (sci-, scia-, scio-, etc.)
• z-, gn-, ps-, pn-, semi-vowels, and x–

So, the plural of il cuore is i cuori, because il becomes i.

Other examples with i:

• i baci (the kisses)
• i quadri (the paintings)
• i lupi (the wolves)
• i satelliti (the satellites)

When to use gli

Plural masculine nouns that don’t use i in the plural use gli. This means that nouns that use lo or l’ in the singular use gli in the plural.

We mentioned lo psicologo a little while back. When it’s plural, it becomes gli psicologi, since we’ve just said that lo becomes gli.

Other examples with gli:

• gli studi (the studies)
• gli sciami (the swarms)
• gli zoo (the zoos)
• gli yogurt (the yogurts)
• gli archi (the bows)
• gli elmi (the helmets)
• gli incontri (the encounters)
• gli orti (the vegetable gardens)
• gli ululati (the howlings)

We’ve now seen all the masculine Italian definite articles. Now, let’s take a look at how Italian articles are used with feminine nouns. Let’s start with la and l’ for singular nouns.

When to use la

We use la before any noun beginning with:

• a consonant
• semi-vowel i/y/j
• h
• w

For example, we say la tavola, “the table”, and la iena, “the hyena”. This is because the i- in iena is not a vowel, but a semi-vowel. Don’t worry too much, as semi-vowels are rare and not as common as vowels in Italian.

Other examples with la:

• la balena (the whale)
• la hall (the hall)
• la scrivania (the desk)
• la libreria (the bookcase)

For vowels, we need to use another Italian article.

When to use l’

Alright, we’ve been here before. L’ was the shortened form of lo, remember?

It’s also short for la and it’s used before feminine nouns that start with a vowel.

For example, we’ll say l’arena, “the arena”, because “a” is a vowel.

Other examples with l’:

• l’arancia (the orange)
• l’erba (the grass, the herb)
• l’iride (the iris)
• l’orma (the footprint)
• l’uscita (the exit)

When to use le

There’s just one feminine plural definite article (phew!): le. No matter what kind of noun you’ve got in the singular, the plural form will always be le.

For example, l’arena will become le arene, “the arenas”.

Other examples with le:

• le arance (the oranges)
• le erbe (the herbs)
• le iridi (the irises)
• le orme (the footprints)
• le uscite (the exits)

When to use the Italian definite articles

Italian definite articles are used to talk about something specific. This includes general groups and uncountable nouns.

For example, consider the sentence “I like cats”. See how you don’t need an article here? You can’t just say “I like the cats” without specifying which cats you mean. For example, you’d use an article only if you were talking about those two cats purring on the sill.

This kind of thing doesn’t happen in Italian. We use the definite article even for groups of things that are pretty generic. Here are some examples:

• Adoro i gatti.
  I love cats.
• Mi piacciono i cani.
  I like dogs.
• Odio gli scarafaggi.
  I hate cockroaches.
• I leoni mi fanno paura.
  I’m afraid of lions.

At the same time, Italian articles are used before uncountable nouns like “milk” and “water”.

As an English speaker, it would be unnatural for you to say “the water boils at 100 °C”. But that’s just how we do things in Italian! Some examples:

• L’acqua bolle a 100 °C.
  Water boils at 100 °C.
• I bambini dovrebbero andare a letto presto.
  Children should go to bed early.
• I leoni vivono nella savana.
  Lions live in the savannah.
• La birra è una bevanda alcolica.
  Beer is an alcoholic drink.

Another big difference is that possessives must be preceded by a definite article in Italian. This sounds very unnatural in English:

• Dov’è la mia borsa?
  Where’s my bag?
• Il tuo libro è molto avvincente.
  Your book is super interesting.
• Ho trovato le tue chiavi.
  I found your keys.

Another thing that’s different with English is how we name countries and places around the world. You have to use a definite article in Italian. Examples:

• l’Italia (Italy)
• la Germania (Germany)
• la Francia (France)
• la Spagna (Spain)
• gli Stati Uniti (the United States)
• il Regno Unito (the United Kingdom)
• l’America (America)
• l’Asia (Asia)
• l’Europa (Europe)

But you don’t use an article with a country name if it’s in the singular and the preposition in comes right before it. So you say:

• L’Italia, la Spagna e la Germania sono Paesi europei.
  Italy, Spain, and Germany are European countries.
• Sono stato in Italia, in Spagna e in Germania.
  I have been to Italy, Spain, and Germany.
• Non sono mai stato negli Stati Uniti.
  I have never been to the United States.

You also use a definite article in Italian when telling the time. Examples:

• Sono le due del mattino.
  It’s two in the morning.
• Partirò alle quattro e mezza.
  I’ll leave at half past four.
• Il treno arriverà all’una.
  The train will arrive at one o’clock.

And Italian definite articles are also used to describe one’s appearance:

• Michela ha gli occhi azzurri.
  Michela has blue eyes.
• Mia zia ha i capelli bianchi.
  My aunt has white hair.

Now, let’s discuss when to use Italian indefinite articles.

Italian indefinite articles

Indefinite articles are used to talk about a noun that isn’t specified. They’re just used in the singular, and they can be either masculine or feminine, as you can see in the table below:

Masculine	un, uno
Feminine	una, un’

How to use the Italian indefinite articles

When to use un

You use un when a noun starts with a consonant. There are a few exceptions to this rule. Do you see the pattern here? These exceptions are the same ones as for the definite article il:

• s+consonant (st-, sp-, sb-, sv-, sc-, etc.)
• “sh” sound (sci-, scia-, scio-, etc.)
• z-, gn-, ps-, pn-, semi-vowels, and x–

Examples:

• un lupo (a wolf)
• un bacio (a kiss)
• un quadro (a painting)
• un satellite (a satellite)

When to use uno

Uno is used before nouns that start with a consonant in all cases where un cannot be used. If the noun takes lo as a definite article, use uno as an indefinite article!

Examples:

• uno yogurt (a yogurt)
• uno studio (a study)
• uno sciame (a swarm)
• uno zoo (a zoo)

When to use una and un’

As we’ve seen in the table above, there are two possible feminine Italian indefinite articles: una and un’.

We use una before any noun beginning with:

• w
• a consonant
• semi-vowel i/y/j
• h

In all other cases, for vowels, we use un’, which is short for una. It’s this simple! Examples:

• un’arancia (an orange)
• un’erba (an herb)
• un’iride (an iris)
• un’orma (a footprint)
• un’uscita (an exit)

Now, let’s talk about partitive articles. These articles might not be as intuitive for you since they’re not present in English, but they’re easy to learn.

Italian partitive articles

In Italian, partitive articles are a special kind of article used to talk about an unspecified amount of things. You can use them to talk about a few pens, some cats, or even a bit of flour.

They’re formed by adding a definite article to the preposition di which means “of”. Here are all the possible partitive articles in Italian:

Di	del	dello	della	dell‘	dei	degli	delle
+	il	lo	la	l’	i	gli	le

As you can see, they’re both singular and plural, masculine and feminine, since there’s one partitive article for each definite article in Italian.

Examples:

• Mi serve dello zucchero.
  I need some sugar.
• Hai delle biro da prestarmi?
  Do you have any pens I can borrow?
• Ho comprato delle fragole.
  I bought some strawberries.

With enough practice, distinguishing partitive articles from other forms of the preposition di that translate to “of the” will come naturally to you. For example:

• I vestiti delle ragazze sono azzurri.
  The girls’ dresses are blue.

In this example, delle means “of the”. It is not a partitive article!

Feel free to practice using Italian articles to name specific objects around you! Or, continue reading our guides to learn more about Italian:

• Italian grammar practice
• Italian conjugation practice made easy
• The 100 most common Italian words you NEED to know