Italian grammar basics
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Italian grammar basics [with audio]

DiItaliano Dinamico
Contenuti nascondi
1 Sentence structure and word order
1.1 Gender and number in nouns
1.1.1 Masculine vs. Feminine
1.1.2 Singular vs. Plural
1.2 Introduction to articles: definite and indefinite
1.2.1 Definite articles (“the”)
1.2.2 Indefinite articles (“a/an”)

Sentence structure and word order

In Italian, the basic sentence structure follows the Subject – Verb – Object (SVO) order, just like in English. However, word order can be more flexible due to verb conjugations indicating the subject.

Examples:

  • Io mangio una mela. (I eat an apple.)
  • Marco legge un libro. (Marco reads a book.)

Unlike English, subject pronouns (io, tu, lui, lei, etc.) are often omitted because the verb ending already indicates the subject.

Example:

  • Mangio una mela. (I eat an apple.)
  • Legge un libro. (He/She reads a book.)

Gender and number in nouns

In Italian, nouns have gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural). This affects not only the noun but also the articles and adjectives that accompany it.

Masculine vs. Feminine

Most nouns ending in -o are masculine, and most nouns ending in -a are feminine. However, there are exceptions.

Examples:

  • Masculine: il ragazzo (the boy), il libro (the book)
  • Feminine: la ragazza (the girl), la mela (the apple)

Nouns ending in -e can be either gender and must be memorized individually.

Examples:

  • Masculine: il fiore (the flower)
  • Feminine: la notte (the night)

Singular vs. Plural

To form the plural:

  • Masculine nouns ending in -o → change to -i (il ragazzo → i ragazzi)
  • Feminine nouns ending in -a → change to -e (la ragazza → le ragazze)
  • Nouns ending in -e → change to -i (il fiore → i fiori, la notte → le notti)

Introduction to articles: definite and indefinite

Definite articles (“the”)

Definite articles in Italian change based on gender and number.

  • Singular Masculine: il libro (the book)
  • Plural Masculine: i libri (the books)
  • Singular Feminine: la mela (the apple)
  • Singular Masculine: le mele (the apples)

Special cases:

  • Lo is used for masculine words starting with z, s+consonant, ps, gn, x, y (lo studente → gli studenti)
  • L’ is used for singular nouns starting with a vowel (l’amico → gli amici, l’arancia → le arance)

Indefinite articles (“a/an”)

Indefinite articles follow a similar pattern:

  • Masculine: un libro (a book), uno studente (a student – special case for “s+consonant”)
  • Feminine: una mela (an apple), un’amica (a friend – for words starting with a vowel)

Mastering these basics will help you form correct sentences and understand more complex grammar structures in Italian!