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 ITALIAN GRAMMAR
 
FREE RESOURCE
- LEVEL: BEGINNER

LEARNING TOOLS IN THIS RESOURCE
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SHORT GRAMMAR EXPLANATIONS

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The Italian Definite Article

  • In English there is only one definite article for masculine, feminine, singular and plural: THE.
    In Italian there is a whole set of definite articles, all of which translate the English word THE:

    For MASCULINE SINGULAR: IL, LO or L' (contracted form)
    For MASCULINE PLURAL: I or GLI
    For FEMININE SINGULAR: LA or L'
    For FEMININE PLURAL: LE
     

  • Basically you have to use

    MASCULINE SINGULAR
    - IL for most words (il sóle, il cièlo, il terréno, il vólo, il cugìno, il tramónto, il crànio)
    - LO for words beginning with
           ◊ GN (lo gnòmo, lo gnòrri, lo gnu, lo gnòcco)
           ◊ I, J or Y when these letters are used as a semivowel (lo iàto, lo iòta, lo Jònio, lo yèti)
           ◊ PN (lo pnèuma, lo pneumatico)
              NOTE: nowadays IL is often preferred (il pneumàtico)
           ◊ PS (lo psicòlogo, lo psicanalìsta, lo psicodràmma, lo pseudònimo)
           ◊ S followed by any consonant (lo spàzio, lo strèss, lo scienziàto, lo sbàglio, lo snack)
           ◊ X (lo xilòfono, lo xenòfobo)
           ◊ Z (lo zìo, lo zèro, lo zibìbbo)
    - L' for words beginning with a vowel sound (l'àlbero, l'órdine, l'attàcco, l'indice, l'hotèl).

    MASCULINE PLURAL
    - I for words using IL in the singular (i cièli, i terréni, i cugìni, i tramónti)
    - GLI for all other words (gli gnòmi, gli yèti, gli psicòlogi, gli spàzi, gli xilòfoni, gli zìi)
      NOTE: words beginning with PN in the singular tend to have the article I in the plural

    FEMININE SINGULAR
    - LA for most words (la tèrra, la sorprésa, la guàrdia, la cavallerìa, la cróce, la strategìa)
    - L' for words beginning with a vowel sound (l'ànima, l'àrca, l'amàca, l'orìgine, l'umidità, l'hòstess)
      NOTE: feminine words beginning with H can also use LA (la hostess).

    FEMININE PLURAL
    - LE for all words (le tèrre, le sorprése, le ànime, le orìgini)
      NOTE: you can still find l' in the feminine plural in poetry and songs


   ITALIAN GRAMMAR    

  1. The Definite Article
  2. Stressed and Unstressed Direct Object Personal Pronouns
  3. The Second Person Pronoun TU
  4. Subject After the Verb
  5. Negative Form
  6. The Italian Progressive Form

 

 

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