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L’ is used before a singular noun that starts with a vowel (= a, e, i, o u).
L’amico (= the friend)
L’edificio (= the building)
L’inverno (= the winter)
L’occhio (= the eye)
L’ufficio (= the office)
LO is used before a singular noun that starts with an S + consonant, as well as words that begin with GN-, PN-, PS-,
X-, Y- and Z-.
Lo stadio (= the stadium)
Lo gnomo (= the gnome) *
Lo pneumatico (= the tyre/tire)
Lo psicologo (= the psychologist)
Lo xilofono (= the xylophone)
Lo yogurt (= the yoghurt)
Lo zio (= the uncle)
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* I’m sure you will use lo gnomo a lot on your trip to Italy …. but seriously, the GN rule exists and there are
only a handful of words that begin with GN- and that was about the best word I could find. The same goes for words
beginning with PS- and PN- … there aren’t many.
X and Y: One of the only words that starts with X in Italian… Lo xilofono also falls under the Lo rule as well as
Lo Yogurt that starts with Y. I didn’t include them in the list of rules as it is basically only those two words that you
need to remember.
L’ is used before a singular noun that starts with a vowel (= a, e, i, o u).
L’acqua (= the water)
L’estate (= the summer)
L’insalata (= the salad)
PLURAL ARTICLES —
Articles with Plural Masculine Nouns in Italian
If a plural noun is masculine then we use either I or GLI.
The most common masculine definite article (in plural form) is I.
I is the plural of IL.
I is used before a plural noun that starts with a consonant ( – see the exceptions below that use Gli)
Il libro — I libri (= the books)
Il telefono — I telefoni (= the telephones)
Il ragazzo — I ragazzi (= the boys)
Il padre — I padri (= the fathers)
GLI is the plural of L’ and LO.
GLI is used before a plural noun that starts with a vowel (= a, e, i, o u), with nouns that starts with an S + consonant,
as well as words that begin with PS-, PN-, GN- and Z-.
L’amico — Gli amici (= the friends)
L’edificio — Gli edifici (= the buildings)
L’inverno — Gli inverni (= the winters)
L’occhio — Gli occhi (= the eyes)
L’ufficio — Gli uffici (= the offices)
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lunedì – Monday
martedì – Tuesday
mercoledì – Wednesday
giovedì – Thursday
venerdì – Friday
sabato – Saturday
domenica – Sunday
Notice how the “work” days of the week all end in dì.
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Some other words that are associated with days of the week include:
ieri = yesterday
oggi = today
domani = tomorrow
dopodomani = the day after tomorrow
And everyone’s favorite…
NOTE: All of the days of the week are masculine except for domenica which is feminine.
NOUNS | NOMI
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l’alfabeto
alphabet
l’aula
classroom
gli appunti
notes
il banco
student’s desk
la calcolatrice
calculator
la campanella
school bell
la cattedra
teacher’s desk
la classe
class*Whereas in English we say “go to class” to refer to an individual session of
class, Italian uses lesson or “lezione”
la colla
glue
i compiti
homework
(Tom Bodett)
l’esame
test
l’esercizio
exercise
il foglio di carta
sheet of paper
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le forbici
scissors
il gessetto
chalk
la gomma
eraser
l’insegnante
teacher
(both male & female)~
la lavagna
chalkboard
la lettura
reading
la lezione
lesson/lecture
il libro
book
la matematica
mathematics
la materia
subject
la pagella
report card
il pastello
crayon
la penna
pen
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il quaderno
notebook
il righello
ruler
la scrittura
writing
lo studente
student (male)
la studentessa
student (female)
lo zaino
backpack
VERBS | VERBI
imparare
to learn
insegnare
to teach
leggere
to read
scrivere
to write
studiare
to study
PHRASES | FRASI
La frutta in italiano
(Fruit in Italian)
The Italian word frutta is not used in the plural form (it is similar to the collective noun fruit in
English).
What is the difference between la frutta and il frutto?
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La frutta usually refers to Fruit(s) in general. It is the generic term for all fruit. It a collective
noun
Me piace la frutta. (= I like fruit. – Here we are talking about fruit in general, non a
specific piece of fruit)
Il frutto usually refers to a single (type of) fruit from a plant. We can say:
La mela è un frutto. (The apple is a fruit)
List of fruit in Italian
Here is our list of fruit in Italian with the English translation next to it.
l’anguria = watermelon
l’albicocca = apricot
l’arancia = orange
l’avocado = avocado
l’ananas = pineapple
la banana = banana
la ciliegia= cherry
il fico = fig
la fragola = strawberry
il frutto della passione = passion fruit
il kiwi = kiwi
il lampone = raspberry
la limetta = lime
il limone = lemon
il mandarino = mandarine
il mango = mango
la mela = apple
la mela cotogna = quince
la melagrana = pomegranate
il melone = melon
il mirtillo = blueberry
il mirtillo rosso (americano) = cranberry
la mora = blackberry
la nettarina = nectarine (also pescanoce or nocepesca)
la noce di cocco = coconut
la papaia = papaya (you may also see the word written as papaya)
la pera = pear
la pesca = peach
il pomodoro = tomato
il pompelmo = grapefruit
la prugna = plum (also la susina)
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In some countries a person gets married more than once. These are the terms
used to describe the “new” members of the family when someone gets
remarried.
il patrigno: stepfather
la matrigna: stepmother
il figliastro: stepson
la figliastra: stepdaughter
il fratellastro: stepbrother
la sorellastra: stepsister
1 – uno
2 – due
3 – tre
4 – quattro
5 – cinque
6 – sei
7 – sette
8 – otto
9 – nove
10 – dieci
10 – dieci
11 – undici
12 – dodici
13 – tredici
14 – quattordici
15 – quindici
16 – sedici
17 – diciassette
18 – diciotto
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19 – diciannove
20 – venti
ventitré (23)
trentatré (33)
ottantatré (83)