Use of definite articles in Italian

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When we want to speak a good Italian we have to remeber that Italians always use  articles, definite or indefinite,  before nouns and possessive pronouns.  We analyse now the correct use of definite articles.
As the nouns also pronouns have a gender, that refer specifically to man or woman.

Masculine definite article

There are two masculine definite articles in Italian:
Il (singular) > i (plural)
lo (singular) > gli (plural)

Normally with masculine words which begin with a consonant we use the article il > i , example:

• Father - Il padre (pl. i padri)
  Restaurant - Il ristorante (pl. i ristoranti)

We use the article lo >gli with nouns which begin with:

1. s + consonant;
   student - lo studente (pl. gli studenti)
   mirror - lo specchio (pl. gli specchi)
2. g + n;
   gnome - lo gnomo (pl. gli gnomi)
3. p + s;
   psychologist - lo psicologo (gli psicologi)
4. x-, y-, z;
   xylophone - lo xilofono (gli xilofoni)
   yoghurt - lo yogurt (gli yogurt)
   backpack - lo zaino (gli zaini)
5. a vowel ( in this case the article lo loses the vowel -o and becomes l’)
   friend - l’amico (gli amici)
   italian - l’italiano (gli italiani)
   clock - l’orologio (gli orologi)

Feminine definite article

The feminine definite article is:
la (singular) > le (plural)

woman - la donna (pl. le donne)
girl - la ragazza (pl. le ragazze)

The article la loses the vowel -a and becomes l’ before feminine singular nouns which begin with italian vowels (a,e,i,o,u), example:

tavern - l’osteria (le osterie)
friend - l’amica (le amiche)

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