What are the partitive articles in Italian?
The Italian partitive articles (Del, Dello, Dell’, Della) correspond to “Some/Any” in English. Partitive articles indicate a part of something or a small amount of something.
When to use dei, degli, and delle?
Partevie articles (dei, degli, delle, etc) are used before nouns according to the following rules:
| M.S | M.Plu | F.S | F.Plu | |
| Words that begin with a consonant | Del | Dei | Della | Delle |
| Words that begin with a vowel | Dell’ | Degli | Dell’ | Delle |
| Words starting with s + consonant, z, ps, gn, x and y | Dello | Degli | – | – |
What are the forms of the partitive article in Italian?
Partitive articles are formed by combining the preposition Di with the Definite article.
[Partitive article = di + definite article]
| Masculine Singular | Feminine Singular |
| Di + Il =Del | Di + La =Della |
| Di + Lo =Dello | _ |
| Di + L’ =Dell’ | Di + L’ =Dell’ |
| Masculine Plural | Feminine Plural |
| Di + i =Dei | Di + Le =Delle |
| Di + Gli =Degli | _ |
| Definite article | Partitive article | |
| Feminine | La carta (The paper) L’acqua (The water) Le lettere (The letters) | Della carta (some/any paper) Dell’acqua (some/any water) Delle lettere (some/any letters) |
| Masculine | Il vino (The wine) L’olio (The oil) Lo zucchero (The sugar) I libri (The books) Gli errori (The mistakes) | Del vino (some/any wine) Dell’olio (some/any oil) Dello zucchero (some/any sugar) Dei libri (some/any books) Degli errori (some/any mistakes) |
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Alternatives to the Italian partitive articles
A). Qualche (some/any)
Used only with singular, countable nouns although there is a plural sense:
- Ho letto qualche racconto di Calvino.
- I read some short stories by Calvino
B). Un pò di (a little/ some / any)
Can be used as an alternative to both singular and sometimes plural partitive articles:
- Vuoi un pò di latte?
- Would you like some milk?
- Vorrei un pò di fragole.
- I’d like some strawberries.
C). Alcuni, alcune (some / a few)
Can be used as an alternative to the plural partitive article:
- Ho fatto alcuni esercizi di grammatica.
- I did some grammar exercises.
D) Nessun, nessuno, nessuna / Alcun, alcuno, alcuna (Not / any).
Can be used before countable nouns.
- Non ho letto nessun libro di Moravia.
- I haven’t read any book(s) By Moravia
- Non ho letto alcun libro di Moravia.
- I haven’t read any book(s) By Moravia
- Qui non c’è nessuna penna che funzioni.
- There’s no pen here that works.
- Qui non c’è alcuna penna che funzioni.
- There’s no pen here that works.