Determiners are words (as an article, possessive, demonstrative or quantifier) that makes specific the denotation of a noun phrase. In Italian they agree in gender and number with the noun.
Articles (a, an, the): They are used before nouns, but in Italian, nouns have gender and the articles must agree with the gender. Masculine words generally end in -o and feminine words generally end in -a. Words that end in -e may be either, so you will just have to memorize the gender.
Examples:
| un amico » a friend (m) |
degli amici » friends |
| l'amico » the friend |
gli amici » the friends |
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|
| un' amica » a friend (f) |
delle amiche » friends |
| l'amica » the friend |
le amiche » the friends |
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|
| un ragazzo » a boy |
dei ragazzi » boys |
| il ragazzo » the boy |
i ragazzi » the boys |
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|
| una ragazza » a girl |
delle ragazze » girls |
| la ragazza » the girl |
le ragazze » the girls |
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|
| uno stato » a state (m) |
dei stati » states |
| lo stato » the state |
gli stati » the states |
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|
| uno zingaro » a gypsy (m) |
dei zingari » gypsies |
| lo zingaro » the gypsy |
gli zingari » the gypsies |
See [Italian Articles] for a deeper explanation and some examples of definite and undefinite articles.
Possessive Adjectives (my, your, his, her):
See [Italian Possessive Adjectives] for a deeper explanation and some examples of this topic.
Examples:
| Singular |
Plural |
|
| il mio amico » my friend (male) |
i miei amici » my friends (males) |
| il nostro amico » our friend (male) |
i nostri amici » our friends (males) |
| la mia amica » my friend (female) |
le miei amiche » my friends (females) |
| la nostra amica » our friend (female) |
le nostre amiche » our friends (females) |
Demonstrative Adjective (this, these, that, those):
See [Italian Demonstrative Adjectives] for a deeper explanation and some examples of this topic.
Examples:
| Singular |
Plural |
|
| questo libro » this book |
questi libri » these books |
| quel libro » that book |
quei libri » those books |
| quello studente » that student |
quelli studenti » those books |
| quella donna » that woman |
quelle donne » those women |
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