We use articles before
– the names of countries (except Israele). For example: la Germania, la Svizzera, la Danimarca.
– the names of islands and achipelagos. For example: la Sicilia, la Sardegna, le Eolie, le Canarie.
– the names of mountains, rivers, volcanoes. For example: l’Everest, il Monte Rosa, il Tevere, l’Ebro, l’Etna, il Vesuvio.
– the names of districts, city zones, or monuments. For example: l’Upper East Side, il Colosseo, la Torre di Pisa.
– the surnames of known people. For example: il Petrarca, i Savoia.
– ‘tutto + noun’. For example: ‘tutti i giorni’, ‘tutte le ragazze’, ‘tutte le amiche di tuo fratello’.
We do not use articles
– with the names of small islands. For examples: Malta, Capri.
– with days of the week. For example lunedì, martedì. (But we use them when we want to say that we do something habitually that day: ‘Ogni lunedì vado in palestra.’ = ‘Il lunedì vado in palestra.’).
– with the names of continents and countries when used with the preposition ‘in’. For example: in Italia, in Asia, in America. (Exception: negli Stati Uniti)
– with the names of relatives and parents used in the singular. For example: mia madre, mia sorella, mio zio.
– with someone’s name. For example: Antonio, Maura, Livio, Gianni.
– with the names of planets and stars. For example, Sirio, Venere, Giove, Marte. (Exceptions are la Luna, la Terra, il Sole.)
– with compound expressions. For example: ‘un gruppo di ragazze’, ‘un esempio di frase’.
– with quello/questo. For example: ‘quel gatto’, ‘questo libro’.
– with the names of cities. For example: Lecce, Bolzano, Bologna, Roma, Ancona. (Except if we are talking about the football team of the city, as ‘la Roma’).
Back to Italian lesson on: use and omission of articles
