Basics 1

Ciao!
Hello!
Let's learn Italian!
Did you know that the Italian alphabet has only 21 letters? Usually you won’t see j, k, w, x, or y in Italian words. This makes learning Italian easier by 5 letters!
Ragazzo or ragazza?
In Italian, all nouns are either masculine or feminine, even when they don't refer to people.
Usually, nouns that end in ‑o (like ragazzo) are masculine, and nouns that end in ‑a (like ragazza) are feminine.
un ragazzo
a boy
una ragazza
a girl
For masculine nouns use un, and for feminine nouns use una.
Io sono, tu sei...
In English, verbs don’t change their ending much. For example, I run is different from he runs, and we say I am, you are, and she is, but it doesn’t get much more complicated than that.
In Italian, it’s a little different. All verbs change depending on whether it’s I, you, she, etc.
subjectverb (essere)
io
I		sono
am
tu
you		sei
are
lui / lei
he / she		è
is
At the beginning of a sentence, the capital i of io might look like an L, so be careful with that.
And one more thing! In Italian, including words like I, you, he, etc. before a verb is optional.
Sono una donna.
I am a woman.
La, il, or l’?
La and il both mean the. Use la for feminine nouns, and il for masculine.
la mela
the apple
il pane
the bread
If the noun starts with a vowel, use l’ instead of la or il.
l'acqua
the water
l'uomo
the man
Here’s a little recap to help you remember these words more easily.
femininemasculine
la ragazzail ragazzo
la melail pane
l'acqual'uomo

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