Words for the and a, and the endings that match

A noun names a person, place or thing. Every Italian noun belongs to one of two families, and its ending changes for more than one. Learn the seven shapes of the word for “the”.

≈ 4 min of reading · Practise at your own pace

What’s in this chapter

Every thing-word belongs to one of two families — masculine or feminine.
Four endings do all the work: -o and -a for one thing, -i and -e for more.
“The” has seven shapes, chosen by the sound that comes next: il, lo, l', la, i, gli, le.
“A” is un or una.
Pointing words copy the ending too: questo this, quella that.

Two families, and what changes for more than one

Every Italian thing-word belongs to one of two families. Read across a row to see the ending each family uses, and what it becomes for more than one.

Family	One	More than one
masculine, ends in -o	il gatto“the cat”	i gattiee GAHT-tee“the cats”
feminine, ends in -a	la casa“the house”	le caseleh KAH-zeh“the houses”
either family, ends in -e	il cane“the dog” · la volpe“the fox”	i cani · le volpi

The family names are misleading — a table is feminine, a book is masculine. But four endings do all the work. Learn -e words with their little word. “A” follows the family too: un cane, una casa — and uno is also the word for “one”.

More than one can change a c

The more-than-one ending puts a new vowel after the c. Compare the two rows: in one the sound softens, in the other an h goes in to keep it hard.

amicoah-MEE-koh“friend”

amiciah-MEE-chee“friends”

The c now sits before an i, so it softens.

amica“friend — female”

amicheah-MEE-keh

An h goes in to keep the c hard — the wall from the six-cell table, protecting the sound.

The seven shapes of “the”

English has one word for the. Italian has seven, and the sound that starts the next word chooses between them. To read, recognise them all as the same little word.

masculine, before a consonant

ileel

il cane“the dog”

masculine, before s + consonant, or z

loloh

lo zio“the uncle”

either family, before a vowel

l'l

l'albero“the tree”

feminine, before a consonant

lalah

la casa“the house”

plural of il

iee

i cani“the dogs”

plural of lo and masculine l'

glilyee

gli uccellilyee oot-CHEHL-lee“the birds”

plural of la and feminine l'

leleh

l'amica → le amiche, never gli: the family decides, not the vowel. All seven shapes are chosen by the sound that comes next — to read, just recognise they are one word.

That house is there.

Quella casa è lì.

KWEHL-lah KAH-zah eh lee

quella took its -a from casa. This copying is the most Italian thing about Italian. Only quikwee“here” and lìlee“there” never change: a place, not a thing.

Which shape, and why

gli uccelli
The l-y sound at the front is the clue.
Show answer +Hide answer −
gli uccellilyee oot-CHEHL-lee“the birds”
l'albero
Put the missing vowel back.
Show answer +Hide answer −
l'alberoLAHL-beh-roh“the tree”
Why is it le amiche and not gli amiche?
The family decides, not the vowel.
Show answer +Hide answer −
amica is feminine, so its plural takes le; gli belongs to masculine words only.

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