Italian indefinite articles (which is just the fancy grammar term for the words “a” and “an”) can be tricky in Italian. There aren’t just one or two words for them, there are four: un, una, un’ and uno .
These little words pop up all the time in everyday conversation. For example, you’ll need them when ordering food and drink, or talking about places to visit in Italy.
In this post, you’ll find out when you should use each Italian indefinite article, so you can avoid common beginner mistakes.
Un - Used in front of masculine nouns
You use un in front of masculine nouns that start with vowels or most consonants. It's the most common form you'll use for masculine words.
For example:
Vorrei un tagliere di formaggi -I’d like a cheese board
Prendo un cappuccino e un cornetto -I’ll order (lit. take) a cappuccino and a croissant
Compro un souvenir -I’m buying a souvenir
Una - Used in front of feminine nouns
You use una when the noun is feminine and starts with a consonant.
For example:
Prendo una pizza margherita -I’ll order (lit. take) a pizza margherita
Facciamo una visita guidata -We’re doing a guided tour
C’è una chiesa vicino all’albergo -There’s a church near the hotel
Un’ - Used in front of feminine nouns starting with a vowel
When a feminine word starts with a vowel, you drop the “a” in una and add an apostrophe: un’ . This squishing together of the two words helps them flow more naturally when you’re speaking in Italian.
For example:
Ho un’ amica italiana -I have a (female) Italian friend
C’è un’ isola vicino a Napoli -There’s an island near Naples
Uno - Used in front of masculine nouns starting with s + consonant, z, y, ps, or gn
Italian uses uno (and not un ) before masculine words that start with certain letters or sounds, like s+consonant, z, y, ps or gn. It makes sounds that are hard to say together easier to pronounce.
For example:
Prendo uno spritz -I’ll order (lit. take) a spritz
Prendo uno yogurt greco -I’ll order (lit. take) a greek yogurt
Porto uno zaino -I’ll bring a backpack
How do you know if a word is masculine or feminine in Italian?
To know if a noun is masculine or feminine in Italian, we usually look at the ending.
-
Nouns ending in -o are usually masculine, e.g. un cappuccino - a cappuccino
-
Nouns ending in -a are usually feminine, e.g. una pizza - a pizza
-
Nouns ending in -e can be either masculine or feminine, so you have to learn them as you go along, e.g. un ristorante - a restaurant, una stazione - a station
Using “a” in Italian when talking about jobs
When you’re talking about jobs, you don’t have to use the word “a” or “an” like you do in English.
For example:
Sono un architetto ✅ -I’m an architect
Sono architetto ✅
And:
Sono un’avvocata ✅ -I’m a lawyer
Sono avvocata ✅
Italian Indefinite Articles: Un, Una, Uno, and Un’: Review
| Article | Used For | Example |
| un | Masculine nouns starting with a vowel or most consonants | Vorrei un tagliere di formaggi -I’d like a cheese board |
| una | Feminine nouns starting with a consonant | Prendo una pizza margherita -I’ll order a pizza margherita |
| un’ | Feminine nouns starting with a vowel | Ho un’ amica italiana -I have a (female) Italian friend |
| uno | Masculine nouns starting with s + consonant, z, y, ps, gn | Prendo uno spritz -I’ll order a spritz |
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti! Hi everyone and welcome to “Learn Italian with Joy of Languages”.
M: In this episode, you’ll learn how to use the different words for “a” in Italian.
K: You’ll hear them in practical, real-life situations, like ordering a spritz or a cheeseboard for an aperitivo . So you’ll also come away with phrases you can use in Italy.
But before we get started, can we ask you a quick favore ? If you’re listening to this on your podcast app, could you click the subscribe or follow button? This way you’ll get notified when we release a new episode and you’ll help our podcast grow so we can keep making free lessons like this one. Grazie !
M: In this conversation between me and Katie, we’re talking about the food and drink we’d like to order. See if you can hear the different words for “a” in Italian.
M: Prendiamo un tagliere di formaggi?
K: Sì! Prendiamo anche…una focaccia e…un’acqua frizzante?
M: Ok, e prendo uno spritz. Tu?
K: Un’altra birra.
M: Allora prendiamo un tagliere, una focaccia, un’acqua frizzante, uno spritz e una birra. Non è troppo?
K: Ok… niente acqua allora.
K: Matteo asked me:
M: Prendiamo un tagliere di formaggi? - Shall we order a cheeseboard? Literally: Prendiamo - we take
Un - a
Tagliere - board
Di - of
Formaggi - cheese
K: When we talk about what food and drink we’d like to have, or order, in Italian, we often use the verb prendere . It literally means “to take”.
M: And to say we take, or shall we take, it’s prendiamo (x2) .
K: The first word for “a” was un. Just two letters, “u” and “n”.
M: For example, I said un tagliere. A board. Un tagliere.
K: We know that this is the right word for “a” because tagliere is a masculine word.
M: So un is the one to use in front of masculine words in Italian.
K: If you’re wondering how we know if a word is masculine or not, we usually look at the ending. Most words ending in -o are masculine. But words ending in -e, like tagliere, could be masculine or feminine. So they’re just ones you have to memorise as you go. But don’t worry, you don’t need to learn them all at once! For now, it’s enough to know that the word we’re talking about, a board, as in a board of food, is masculine, so we say: UN tagliere.
Then I said:
M: Sì! Prendiamo anche…una focaccia e…un’acqua frizzante? - Yes! Shall we also order a focaccia and a sparkling water? Literally:
Sì - yes
Prendiamo - we take
Anche - also
Una - a
Focaccia - focaccia
E - and
Un’ - a
Acqua - water
Frizzante - fizzy
K: The next word for “a” that I used was una.
M: It was with focaccia : una focaccia (x2) .
K: We use this word for “a”, una , when we have a feminine word. We know that focaccia is feminine because most words ending in -a in Italian are feminine.
M: So, in front of masculine words, we say un. In front of feminine words we say una.
K: But then something a bit different happened when I mentioned the water.
M: We didn’t say una acqua, but un’acqua (x2). This time, we’re using u-n-apostrophe.
K: When a feminine word starts with a vowel, you drop the “a” in una and add an apostrophe: un’. And we know that acqua is feminine, because it also ends in -a.
M: Another example of this would be un’amica. A friend. Not una amica, but un’amica. Or a salad: un’insalata (x2) .
K: We add this un with an apostrophe because it makes it easier to say the two words together. It makes one word kind of glide into the other and it means you don’t have to say two “ah” sounds in a row, which can be difficult.
K: Then Matteo said:
M: Ok, e prendo uno spritz. Tu? - Ok, and I’ll order a spritz. What about you? Literally:
Ok - ok
E - and
Prendo - I take
Uno - a
Spritz - spritz
Tu? - you?
K: So far you’ve heard three different words for “a” in Italian:
M:
Un - for masculine words.
Una for feminine.
K: And if the following word starts with a vowel, like acqua, we replace the a in una with an apostrophe, so it becomes un apostrophe.
M: Now you’ve heard the final one: uno (x2) , as in uno spritz.
K: Uno is used in front of masculine words that start with an “s” plus a consonant. That’s why we use it with the word spritz, because it has “s” followed by the consonant “p”. We also use it with studente, a student is uno studente (x2), because studente has “s” followed by the consonant “t”.
Why does this happen? If we said “un spritz”, this would create lots of consonants together: nspr, which doesn’t sound very Italian!
M: Italian, as a language, prefers to be smooth and full of vowels. So we add a vowel before sp and st: uno spritz, uno studente.
M: There are a few other consonants or combinations of consonants where we use uno as well. You can find them on our blog post so you don’t have to worry about learning them all at once.
K: Don’t feel like you should get all the rules at once and be able to use the Italian words for “a” perfectly. It’s ok and very normal to make mistakes with these. Even if you get it wrong, you’ll still be understood.
M: And the more you practice hearing and saying these in example sentences, the more it’ll become second nature and you’ll have to think less about the rules.
K: After Matteo asked me what I wanted to drink, I replied:
Un’altra birra - another beer. Literally:
Un’ - a
Altra - other
Birra - beer
M: We don’t say una altra birra , but un’altra birra. So we’re using the u-n-apostrophe again because the next word is feminine (altra) and starts with a vowel. Un’altra birra.
K: Then Matteo repeated the order. See if you can hear all the different words for “a” used in what he says.
M: Allora prendiamo un tagliere, una focaccia, un’acqua frizzante, uno spritz e una birra - So, we’re ordering a food board, a focaccia, a sparkling water, a spritz and a beer. Literally:
Allora - So
Prendiamo - we take
Un - a
Tagliere - board
Una - a
Focaccia - focaccia
Un’ - a
Acqua - water
Frizzante - fizzy
Uno - a
Spritz - spritz
E - and
Una - a
Birra - beer
K: That sounded like a lot, so Matteo said:
M: Non è troppo? - Isn’t it too much? Literally:
Non - not
È - is
Troppo - too much
K: Then I replied: Ok, niente acqua allora. - Ok, let’s take out the water then. Literally:
Ok - ok
Niente - nothing
Acqua - water
Allora - then
K: If I had to take something out, it was going to be the least exciting option. The others were too good.
M: Now you’ve heard the four different words for “a” in Italian, let’s see what you can remember.
K: What’s the word for “a” that we use with masculine words?
[...]
M: Un (x2) . Like un tagliere (x2) .
[...]
K: What’s the word for “a” that we use with feminine words?
[...]
M: Una (x2) . Like una focaccia (x2) .
[...]
K: And what about feminine words starting with a vowel?
[...]
M: Un’, spelt u-n-apostrophe. For example un’acqua frizzante (x2) .
K: And what about with masculine words like spritz, that start with s plus consonant?
M: Uno. For example uno spritz (x2)
K: Let’s hear the conversation again:
M: Prendiamo un tagliere di formaggi?
K: Sì! Prendiamo anche…una focaccia e…un’acqua frizzante?
M: Ok, e prendo uno spritz. Tu?
K: Un’altra birra.
M: Allora prendiamo un tagliere, una focaccia, un’acqua frizzante, uno spritz e una birra. Non è troppo?
K: Ok… niente acqua allora.
K: To see all the different rules you’ve heard in this episode written in one place, so you can go back and check them as many times as you need, you can head over to our blogpost.
M: There, you’ll also see some more useful phrases to use in Italy that you can practice to help the different words for “a” stick.
K: And you’ll also see a way “a” is used in Italian that’s different from English. This use of “a” comes up in a lot in some of the very first small talk conversations you might have with Italians
To find out what it is, you can click the link in the description to head over to our website, or go to italian.joyoflanguages.com/podcast and search for episode 205.
M: See you next time.
K: Or as we say in Italian.
Alla prossima!
Time to check your understanding and remember everything you just learned! Below you’ll find a mini-quiz and some vocabulary cards to help it all go in.
Quiz: Italian Indefinite Articles
How much did you learn? Find out in the quiz! Click here to take the quiz for this episode: Italian Indefinite Articles
Vocabulary
Prendo un cappuccino e un cornetto = I’ll order (lit. I take) a cappuccino and a croissant
Compro un souvenir = I’m buying a souvenir
Facciamo una visita guidata = We’re doing a guided tour
C’è una chiesa vicino all’albergo = There’s a church near the hotel
C’è un’isola vicino a Napoli = There’s an island near Naples
Porto uno zaino = I’ll bring a backpack
Prendiamo un tagliere di formaggi? = Shall we order (lit. we take) a cheese board?
Prendiamo anche una focaccia e un’acqua frizzante? = Shall we also order (lit. we take) a focaccia and a sparkling water?
Prendo uno spritz = I’ll order (lit. I take) a spritz
