Italian Grammar Class - Level 1 - Definitive & Indefinite Articles

Level 1 - from Beginner to Low Intermediate

In Italian, like in many languages, there are two types of articles: Indefinite articles denote a noun but don’t refer to a specific noun (think of “a” or “an” in English). Definite articles denote a specific noun (think of “the” in English).

In addition to these two types of articles, Italian further categorizes articles in a way that English doesn’t: grammatical gender and number. In Italian, both types of articles (indefinite and definite) change depending on the gender and number of the noun that follows them.

Also, when invariable nouns follow articles, their presence is fundamental to understanding their gender and number.

For example, cantante (singer) is a invariable noun, and if we want to refer to a male singer, we need to use the masculine article il (il cantante). Instead, if we refer to a female singer, we need to use the feminine article…