In Italian, a noun must be preceded by an article. The article can be a definite article (the equivalent to “the” in English) or an indefinite article (the equivalent to “a/an” in English). The articles must match the noun in both gender and quantity. Some of the articles change if the noun starts with a vowel or a “special” consonant.
Let's start with definite articles. With feminine nouns, there are only four definite articles to learn: two singular and 2 plural definite articles. If we have a feminine noun that starts with a consonant, we use la. For example:
la casa (the house)
If the noun is plural, the definite article changes to le:
le case (the houses)
However, if the noun starts with a vowel, we use l' instead:
l'acqua (water)
When these nouns are plural, the definite article is le as well:
le acque (waters)
Now let's move over to masculine nouns: masculine nouns have an extra group of definite articles. First, we will go over the definite article for masculine nouns that start with a consonant. If the noun is singular, we use il:
il cane (dog)
When the noun becomes plural, the definite article becomes i:
i cani (dogs)
However, if the masculine noun begins with either s, z, ps, gn or x, the definite article is lo:
lo studente (student)
lo zio (uncle)
lo psicologo (psychologist)
lo gnomo (gnome)
lo xenofobo (xenophobe)
When these nouns become plural, the definite article becomes gli:
gli studenti (students)
gli zii (uncles)
gli psicologi (psychologists)
gli gnomi (gnomes)
gli xenofobi (xenophobes)
If a masculine noun starts with a vowel, it also has the definite article l':
l'albero (tree)
When the noun becomes plural, the definite article changes to gli:
gli alberi (trees)
Indefinite articles follow a pattern similar to definite articles—there are four feminine indefinite articles and six masculine indefinite articles. Since we now know the different groups of nouns for the articles, let's go over the indefinite articles:
Feminine Indefinite Articles:
consonant, singular: una
consonant, plural: delle
vowel, singular: un'
vowel, plural: delle
Masculine Indefinite Articles:
consonant, singular: un
consonant, plural: dei
S, Z, PS, GN, X, singular: uno
S, Z, PS, GN, X, plural: degli
vowel, singular: un
vowel, plural: degli
Now that we know both our definite and indefinite articles, they can also help us identify if the noun is masculine or feminine, in case we forget or do not know the different endings.