A2 · The articles
Articles where English has none
Countries, languages, days, and your own hands.
At a glance
- Remember
- With your own body the mi is enough.
- Form
- l’ItaliaItaly
- Signal words
- il lunedì
- in Italia
- parlo italiano
- mi lavo
- Trap
- Wrong:Lavo le mie mani prima di mangiare.Right:Mi lavo le mani prima di mangiare.
Your turn
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The form
The forms and what they mean
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in Italian.
| Italy | l’Italia |
| I am going to Italy | vado in Italia |
| Italian (the language) | l’italiano |
| I speak Italian | parlo italiano |
| on Mondays | il lunedì |
| I have a headache | mi fa male la testa |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
Countries take the article — except after in.
La Francia è grande, ma vivo in Italia.France is big, but I live in Italy.
Languages take it — except after parlare.
Studio il russo, ma parlo inglese.I am learning Russian, but I speak English.
A day with the article means every.
La domenica non lavoro.I do not work on Sundays.
Your own body takes the article, not a possessive.
Mi lavo i denti dopo cena.I brush my teeth after dinner.
Example sentences
Il martedì ho lezione di italiano.On Tuesdays I have an Italian lesson.
La Spagna mi piace, ma preferisco l’Italia.I like Spain, but I prefer Italy.
Mi fa male la schiena da ieri.My back has been aching since yesterday.
Il treno parte all’una e mezza.The train leaves at half past one.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
Your own body gets an article, not a possessive. Mi lavo le mani is I wash my hands; the mi already says whose hands they are. Lavo le mie mani is grammatically possible and sounds as though you needed to stress that they are not somebody else's — which is exactly what English would be forcing you to say if you translated word for word.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
Four places where English leaves the article out and Italian puts it in, and they cover most of the mistakes on this page.
Countries and languages: l'Italia è bella, l'italiano è difficile, where English says Italy is beautiful and Italian is difficult with nothing at all. Both drop the article again in a fixed phrase — vado in Italia, parlo italiano — so it is the bare subject position that has to be relearnt.
Days of the week: a day with the article means every. Il lunedì is on Mondays; lunedì vado a Roma, with no article, is this coming Monday. English marks the same difference with a plural — Mondays against Monday — so the distinction is familiar and the machinery is not.
And your own body, which is the one that feels strangest. Italian uses the article where English uses a possessive: mi lavo le mani is I wash my hands, literally I wash myself the hands. The mi has already said whose they are, so le mie mani would be saying it twice. Same with mi fa male la testa — my head aches. And the time of day takes it too: alle otto, all'una.
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The verbs on this page, in every form: essere · avere · fare · parlare · vivere · piacere