What is an article?
An article is a small word used to say whether we are talking about a specific noun (noun = name of a thing, person etc.) or a noun in general.
In English the articles are a, an, the.
THE is a definite article. – It refers to something specific.
- I need the book. (It is a specific book, one that we both know about)
A and AN are indefinite articles. – They refer to something in general.
- I need a book. (It is book in general. I don’t specify the book I need… any book is fine)
In Italian an article is called articolo (singular) articoli (plural).
Just as in English, Italian articles are divided into two types:
- Definite article = articolo determinativo
- Indefinite article = articolo indeterminativo
We will see more about both types of articles in Italian in the next lessons…