Italian Articles: Il, Lo, La, L' and Their Plurals

English has one the. Italian has several, and the choice depends on gender, number and the first sound of the following word. It looks harder than it is.

Definite articles ("the")

	Masculine singular	Masculine plural	Feminine singular	Feminine plural
Before most consonants	il	i	la	le
Before s + consonant, z, gn, ps, x, y	lo	gli	la	le
Before a vowel	l'	gli	l'	le

Examples:

• il libro, i libri
• lo studente, gli studenti
• lo zaino, gli zaini
• l'amico, gli amici
• la casa, le case
• l'amica, le amiche

Why il or lo?

Lo appears before sounds that are awkward after il, such as st-, sp-, z-. Say il studente aloud and you'll hear why Italians prefer lo studente. The rule follows the sound, not the meaning.

Indefinite articles ("a, an")

	Masculine	Feminine
Before most sounds	un	una
Before s + consonant, z, gn, ps	uno	una
Before a vowel	un	un'

Examples:

• un libro, un amico
• uno studente, uno zio
• una casa, un'amica

Note that the masculine un never takes an apostrophe.

When Italian uses "the" and English doesn't

Italian uses the definite article more than English does:

• La vita è bella. — Life is beautiful.
• Mi piace il caffè. — I like coffee.
• Gli italiani mangiano tardi. — Italians eat late.
• Il lunedì lavoro. — On Mondays I work.

Quick guide

1. Check the gender of the noun.
2. Check the first letter or sound.
3. Pick the article from the table.

Common mistakes

• Using il before s + consonant words.
• Forgetting the article in general statements.
• Writing un'amico (wrong) instead of un amico.

Tips

1. Learn each noun with its article.
2. Practise with pairs like lo zio / gli zii.
3. Use the dictionary to check gender and form.

Look up any word with English Italian Dictionary →