Il, lo, la, i, gli, le … you’ve probably met these small words hundreds of times in Italian. They are called definite articles and they all mean “the” 😅
Now you might be wondering: how am I supposed to learn all these?!
No worries.
In this lesson we’ll show you all the patterns behind Italian definite articles and give you some tips on how to learn them, so you’ll feel immediately more confident using il, lo, la, i, gli, le … in your next Italian conversations!
Italian definite articles: how to learn them
The reason Italians use so many articles is that in Italian words are either masculine or feminine. For example:
La pizza is feminine
Il cappuccino is masculine
So we need different articles for masculine and feminine things. They also change depending on whether the word is singular or plural, and the letter it starts with.
Masculine words:
| Singular | Plural | |
| Start with a consonant | il cappuccino | i cappuccini |
| Start with a vowel | l ’italiano | gli italiani |
| Start with s+consonant | lo Spritz | gli Spritz |
*We also use lo with other special sounds, such as z, ps and y. For example:
Lo zucchero – the sugar
Lo yoga – the yoga
Feminine words:
| Singular | Plural | |
| Start with a consonant | la pizza | le pizze |
| Start with a vowel | l’ acqua | le acque |
When you see words in a table like this, they’re very hard to remember because there’s too much information all at once! It’s better to learn articles one chunk at a time, in simple phrases you’ll use in everyday conversations. This way you’ll also get the patterns that they follow.
That’s exactly what you’ll do in this lesson.
Psst ! Not sure how to know whether a word is masculine or feminine? You can take a look at this video.
Italian definite articles: il, la (masculine Vs feminine)
La pizza, la mozzarella, la pasta…
We’re sure you know these words. What do they have in common?
They are all delicious Italian foods you’ll probably look forward to eating in Italy, but also, they are all feminine, singular words.
As you can see, with singular feminine words that start with a consonant, we use ‘ la ’.
La pizza era buonissima! – The pizza was delicious!
Dov'è la stazione? – Where’s the train station?
Vorrei la pasta – I’d like the pasta
Let’s take a look at some more useful Italian words.
Il vino, il cappuccino, il caffè…
With singular masculine words that start with a consonant, we use ‘ il ’.
È questo il treno per Milano? – Is this the train to Milan?
Il conto, per favore – The bill, please
Prendo il Tiramisù – I’ll have the Tiramisù
Italian definite articles: l’ (words which start with a vowel)
If a word starts with a vowel, we use l + apostrophe. Both for masculine and feminine.
So, you can say:
Guardo l’opera – I watch the opera
(feminine)
And
Prendo l’aereo – I take the plane.
(masculine)
When pronouncing l + apostrophe, remember that it attaches to the word that comes after, so it sounds like just one word.
L’albergo è molto bello – The hotel is very nice
Avete l'insalata caprese? – Do you have the caprese salad?
But attenzione! Careful!
L’hotel è costoso – The hotel is expensive.
In Italian the ‘h’ is silent, we don’t pronounce it.
So the word ‘hotel’ uses the article l ', as if it began with the vowel, o.
Italian definite articles: le, i, gli (plurals)
In Italian we use ‘le ’ with ALL plural feminine nouns, like:
le città - the cities
le stazioni - the stations
le piazze - the squares
le strade - the streets
le chiese - the churches
le spiagge - the beaches
le camere - the rooms
le chiavi - the keys
le fermate - the stops (e.g., bus stops)
Ecco le valigie. – Here are the suitcases
Prendo le tagliatelle – I’ll have tagliatelle.
In Italian we use ‘i’ with most plural masculine nouns that start with a consonant, like:
i ristoranti - the restaurants
i musei - the museums
i treni - the trains
i supermercati - the supermarkets
i parchi - the parks
i monumenti - the monuments
Hai comprato i biglietti? – Did you buy the tickets?
I negozi chiudono alle 19 – Shops close at 7pm
But we use the article ‘gli’ with plural masculine words that start with a vowel, like:
gli aeroporti - the airports
gli alberghi - the hotels
gli amici - the friends
gli appartamenti - the apartments
gli ascensori - the elevators
gli autobus - the buses
Per me, gli asparagi! – For me, the asparagus!
Gli italiani sono gentili – Italians are friendly.
The pronunciation of gli is actually similar to an L but the tongue is flat against the roof of your mouth. Learn how to pronounce GLI like an Italian in this lesson.
Italian definite articles: lo, the weirdo (masculine + special sounds)
If you have studied Italian for a while, you know that sometimes there are exceptions to the rules.
Let’s take a look at these Italian words you might already know:
Lo zucchero.
The sugar.
Lo Spritz.
The Spritz.
Lo yogurt.
The yogurt.
Why do we use ’lo’ here?
Well, in Italian we use ‘lo ’ with masculine words that start with certain special sounds such as: s+consonant, z, y and ps.
lo stadio - the stadium
lo zaino - the backpack
lo yoga - the yoga
lo psicologo - the psychologist
Why such madness?! Italian is a really musical language, there are loads of vowels and we don’t like having too many consonants. So instead of ❌ il studente (three consonants in a row!) we say ✅ lo studente (only two)!
But these rules can be quite fiddly to remember (and some of the words aren’t common!), so rather than learning them all by heart, we suggest focusing on the words you’re likely to say frequently, such as: lo zucchero and lo yogurt.
Next, how about plurals of these words?
Gli zuccheri
The sugars.
Gli Spritz.
The Spritzes.
Gli yogurt.
The yogurts.
They use gli , the same article you already saw before for words like: gli aeroporti, gli italiani ( masculine plural words that start with a vowel)
Italian Articles: Review
Let’s review the articles you’ve learnt in today’s lesson (with the help of some delicious Italian specialties!)
il cappuccino – the cappuccino ( il for masculine singular)
i cappuccini – the cappuccinos ( i for masculine plurals)
la pizza – the pizza ( la for feminine singular)
le pizze – the pizzas ( le for feminine plurals)
l’ insalata caprese – the Caprese salad ( l’ for singular words that start with a vowel)
lo Spritz – the Spritz ( lo for masculine singular starting with special sounds)
gli spaghetti – the spaghetti ( gli for masculine plurals starting with special sounds or vowels)
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti! Hi everyone and welcome to “Learn Italian with Joy of Languages”.
M: Today we're talking about a really important topic: mistakes you might be making when saying “the” in Italian without knowing it.
K: Yes, It feels like saying “the” should be easy because it’s always popping up in everything you want to say, but Italian can be especially tricky in this respect!
M: So, cominciamo ! Let’s start
K: But first, If you’re listening to this on your podcast app could you do us un favore and 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.
M: Grazie! So, one problem with Italian articles is that they show up in situations when you wouldn’t use them in English. For example, in Italian, we literally say “I hate THE traffic” or “I love THE Italy”.
K: When you don’t use it, you get your message across, but you might notice that what you’ve just said doesn’t sound quite right, but you don’t know why.
For example, let’s imagine you're chatting with an Italian friend. In everyday conversations, we’re always talking about stuff we like and stuff we don’t like. So they ask you which type of music you like. How would you say “I like rock”? I like is mi piace
[...]
M: Mi piace il rock ( x2)
K: In Italian, we say “I like the rock”. Things in Italian nearly always travel together with their word for "the". Here we use the masculine “ il ” because rock in Italian is masculine.
M: il rock, il jazz, il pop, il blues…
K: So “I like jazz” would be….
[...]
M: Mi piace il jazz (x2)
K: How about things you don’t like, for example, how would you say “I don’t like traffic”? I don’t like is “non mi piace”
[...]
M: Non mi piace il traffico (x2) Very true. And Milan, where we live, isn’t a great city if you don’t like il traffico! That’s why we don’t have a car.
K: Matteo said “il traffico” , again we use il with masculine things. But not with every masculine thing…
For example. How would you say “I like sport” when chatting about your leisure time?
[...]
M: Mi piace lo sport (x2)
K: Did you get it right? Don’t worry if you didn’t! Here we use “ lo ”. It’s not so common and this is why most students get it wrong.
M: We use ‘ lo ’ with masculine words that start with S plus consonant, as in “sport”, which starts with SP. So we say lo sport.
K: How would you say “the student”? Student is studente.
[...]
M: Lo studente (x2)
K: For masculine words, we also use lo with other special sounds, like Z, for example: zucchero , that means sugar. How would you say “the sugar”?
M: Lo zucchero (x2)
K: There are a couple of other special sounds like this, such as Y and PS, but they’re not that common, so you don’t need to worry about them too much. If you want to, you can learn more in the blog post in the description. But we suggest starting with the most common words you’re likely to use in your trip to Italy, like lo spritz , if you want to enjoy an aperitivo in the piazza!
[...]
M : Lo Spritz (x2)
K: Now let’s talk about feminine words, how would you say… “I don’t like pizza”?
M: I’ll never say that. Amo la pizza!
K: You see, in English we would say “I love pizza”. In Italian, Matteo said amo LA pizza. I love THE pizza. So the, for feminine words, is la. How about: “I like pasta”? In Italian, I like THE pasta.
[...]
M: Mi piace la pasta (x2)
K: So we usually use ‘la’ for feminine singular words. There’s just one exception. The one you need if you want to say “I like opera”.
M: Mi piace l’opera (x2)
K: Did you recognize it? It’s L apostrophe. We attach it to the beginning of the word, so it sounds like the word opera starts with an L.
M: L’opera (x2)
K: When do we use l apostrophe in Italian?
M: We use it with any singular word that starts with a vowel, both masculine and feminine.
K: So, let’s imagine you’re telling your friend about your passion for Italy and the Italian language, how would you say “I like Italian”? Literally “I like the Italian”.
M: Mi piace l’italiano (x2)
K: How about: I like Italy?
[...]
M: Mi piace l’Italia (x2). Literally “I like the Italy”.
K: OK, so we’ve covered all of the single words. We’ve got masculine singular words, like rock, as in rock music. The rock is:
[...]
M: Il rock (x2)
K: But there’s a funny masculine group that starts with special sounds, like S plus consonant, or Z. How would you say “the spritz?”
[...]
M: Lo spritz (x2)
K: And the sugar?
[...]
M: Lo zucchero (x2)
K: Now feminine nouns, like pasta. “ The pasta” is:
[...]
M: La pasta (x2)
K: Now all singular words that start with a vowel. How would you say “the opera” again?
[...]
M: L’opera
K: The Italian
[...]
M: L’italiano
K: Next, let’s talk about plurals. Chatting with your friend, you go on to list the things you like about Italy. How would you say for example “the churches”?
[...]
M: Le chiese (x2)
K: Here we used ‘ le ’ because chiese is feminine and plural. You can hear the same with another feminine word, “the beaches”
M: Le spiagge (x2)
K: Now let’s talk about masculine plurals. How would you say, the monuments?
[...]
M: I monumenti (x2)
K: We use i for most masculine plurals. Like “the restaurants”?
[...]
M: i ristoranti
K: And the museums:
[...]
M: i musei
K: Now time for a weird one! How would you say: “the Spritzes?”
[...]
M: Gli Spritz (x2)
K: This is the plural version of ‘lo’ the weird article we talked about before. We use lo with the singular special sounds, like s plus consonant and Z, so: lo sport, lo studente, lo spritz, lo zucchero. We use gli with the plural form of these words. So:
M: Gli sport, gli studenti, gli spritz, gli zuccheri…
K: We also use it for masculine plurals that start with a vowel. For example, “the Italians”.
M: Gli italiani (x2)
K: This word is spelt GLI, but it’s pronounced like an L followed by a Y. To make it sound really Italian, push the tongue flat against the roof of your mouth when you say it:
M: Gli (x2)
K: Perfect. Let’s review those plurals again then. For feminine plurals like “the churches”, we say:
[...]
M: Le chiese (x2)
K: For most masculine plurals, like “the restaurants”, we say:
M: I ristoranti (x2)
[...]
K: But there are the weird masculine plurals that start with special sounds, like s plus consonant, or Z. Like “the spritzes”:
[...]
M: Gli spritz (x2)
K: It’s the same for masculine plurals that start with a vowel, like “the Italians”:
[...]
M: Gli italiani (x2)
K: Phew, that’s all of them! Now let’s do a little quiz to help you remember what you’ve just learned. It’s lunch time and you go to a small restaurant. You can choose between 3 first courses: spaghetti al pomodoro (tomato spaghetti), ravioli and tagliatelle al ragù (tagliatelle with meat sauce). How would you say “I’d like the tagliatelle”? I’d like is vorrei . Tagliatelle is a feminine plural.
[...]
M: Vorrei le tagliatelle (x2)
K: I’d like the ravioli? Ravioli is a masculine plural.
M: Vorrei i ravioli (x2)
K: ” And “I’d like the spaghetti”? Spaghetti is one of those weird ones, a masculine word starting with S+Consonant. In Italian, spaghetti is plural, too. Literally “the spaghettis”
[...]
M: Vorrei gli spaghetti (x2)
K: So, today's topic was quite intense, and you might be feeling like your head is spinning a bit! Remember you can listen to this episode as many times as you want. But, most importantly: what happens if you make a mistake with an article?
M: Male! Molto male! Bad, very bad! No, of course it’s not a problem at all. We might not even notice, and even if we do, we usually know what you mean.
K: Remember that it takes time and you’ll learn them little by little with practice as you go along. So, be patient with yourself.
M: You can review these articles in detail, with some handy tables over on our blog.
K: You’ll also see everything written down, and get bonus materials, like vocabulary cards and a quiz. Head over by clicking on the link in the description. Or you can go to italian.joyoflanguages.com/podcast and search for episode 156.
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
How much did you learn? Find out in the quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: Italian Definite Articles: How to say "the" in Italian?
Vocabulary
I negozi chiudono alle 19 = Shops close at 7pm
Il conto, per favore = The bill, please
La pizza era buonissima! = The pizza was delicious!
Prendo l’aereo = I take the plane
Mi piace il jazz = I like jazz
Non mi piace il traffico = I don’t like traffic
Mi piace l’opera = I like opera
Mi piace l’italiano = I like Italian
Vorrei le tagliatelle = I’d like tagliatelle
Vorrei gli spaghetti = I’d like spaghetti
Flashcards: Italian Definite Articles
Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial
