ILGUR: Italian Language, Grammar and Usage Resource

The indefinite article in English, “a” or “an,” has the following equivalent in Italian:

Here are some rules for using the indefinite article in Italian:

1. Un is used with all masculine nouns that begin with a vowel and start with a consonant.
2. Uno is used with all masculine nouns that start with an s + consonant, ps, z, y, and gn.
3. Un‘ is used with all feminine nouns that start with a vowel.IMPORTANTE: It is a common error (even with native speakers) to use un’ for masculine nouns, too. Note the differences:
   

   un’artista (f.) | un artista (m.)

4. Una is used before all other feminine nouns not starting with a vowel

Some examples of nouns and their indefinite articles:

una mela | an apple
un’opinione | an opinion
uno studente | a student
uno psicologo | a psychologist
uno gnao | a meow
uno yogurt | a yogurt
uno zaino | a backpack
un aereo | an airplane

Note that the article is omitted with exclamations and with the adjective, mezzo (half):

Che genio! | What a genius!
Che macchina! | What a car!
Ho comprato mezzo etto di formaggio. | I bought 50 grams of cheese.

With professions and the verb, essere, the definite article is also omitted, unless the profession is modified by an adjective:

Sono medico. | I am a doctor.
Sono un medico gentile. | I am a kind doctor.

NB:The indefinite article has no proper plural, although some consider the partitive construction to be an indefinite plural construction.

It is worth mentioning that the adjective, buono, functions much like the indefinite article when it is modifying a noun. It has four forms: buon (un), buono (uno), buona (una), buon’ (un’). Make sure that you are using the correct form of buono in your writing. Take note of the following differences:

Il buon liceo si trova vicino a Napoli. | The good high school is near Naples.
Il liceo vicino a Napoli è buono. | The high school near Naples is good.

Buono, when used as a predicate adjective (that is, by itself), has the four standard adjectival forms:

buono, buoni, buona, buone

Downloads:
You can download a pdf of this lesson by clicking here.