Adjectives

Italian adjectivesOne of the eight parts of speech, adjectives are a type of modifier; that is, they modify or describe nouns in a certain way, letting you know the size, shape, weight, color, nationality, or any of a myriad other possible qualities of nouns.

   

   

Definite Article

Italian definite articlesThe Italian definite article (il, lo, la, i, gli, le) indicates either a particular noun or, contrarily, the general sense of a noun.

   

Demonstrative Adjectives

Italian demonstrative adjectivesDemonstrative adjectives (this, that) are used to indicate a specific noun or nouns. In Italian, they must agree with the noun(s) in number and sometimes gender: questo, quella, quei ….

   

Demonstrative Pronouns

Italian demonstrative pronounsDemonstrative pronouns (this one, that one, the one[s], these, those) refer to a previously-mentioned noun in a sentence. Italian demonstrative pronouns are more complicated than their English counterparts, because there are two different sets and because they must agree in gender and number with the noun they replace.

   

Indefinite Article

Italian indefinite articlesThe aptly named indefinite article (un, uno, una, dei, degli, delle) indicates an unspecific or unidentified noun.

   

Nationalities

Nationalities in Italian
Every country and continent has an adjective that can be used to describe people and things from that place. Those same adjectives can also be used as nouns to refer to people from that place, with one small change in Italian.

   

Nouns

Italian nounsOne of the eight parts of speech, a noun is commonly defined as "a person, place, or thing." If that seems vague, that’s because it is.

   

Partitive Article

Italian partitive articlesThe partitive article (del, dello, della, dei, degli, delle) refers to an unspecified quantity of food, liquid, or some other uncountable noun. English has no equivalent article – the partitive is usually translated by the adjectives “some” or “any,” or may be left out entirely.

   

Possessive Adjectives

Italian possessive adjectivesItalian possessive adjectives are used in front of nouns to indicate to whom or to what those nouns belong. They are considerably more complicated than English possessive adjectives because Italian has many different forms depending on the gender and number of the possessed noun.