Answers
Nov 08, 2011 - 05:17 PM
Sedano, perhaps the easiest way is to concentrate first on the "standard" articles: il for masculine singular and i for masculine plural; and la for feminine singular and le for feminine plural. Those are fairly easy to work with and remember. Once those are in place, the unusual lo and gli for masculine nouns beginning in Z or s and a consonant can be tackled. Finally the L apostrophe which is used for both masc and fem nouns that begin with a vowel. It can be confusing to try to work all at the same time.
Nov 09, 2011 - 06:25 PM
Hey -- just adding to Dennis' comment: I made lists and charts when I first started to tackle articles (I'm a visual person, writing things down and seeing them helps me). For me, it was just memorization. Masculine nouns takes "il." Feminine nouns takes "la" and so on. I would literally just write out long lists with every noun I knew. Something like: il parco (masculine) la stazione (feminine) lo stadio (masculine beginning with s+consonant or z) l'ascensore (begins with a vowel) I did the same thing for the contractions. I took the four I was dealing with at first (al, alla, allo and all') and I just wrote them out over and over again: al parco (masculine) alla stazione (feminine) allo stadio (begins with s+consonant or z) all'ascensore (begins with a vowel) And then I would throw them into simples sentences. "Voglio andare (fill in the blank)." "Vorrei vedere (fill in the blank)." "Puo aiutarmi trovare (fill in the blank)." Also! I found that -- when I learn a new word -- it's helpful to always stick the correct article in front of it (definite or indefinite). That way I learn the word and the correct article simultaneously. Sort of kills two birds with one stone. :-) Maybe that helps?
Nov 16, 2011 - 03:18 PM
this might sound crazy...but it worked for me. I think the sounds of the articles tell the gender and for the singular I think of my dog...Lola. For the Plural...a friend of my mother's "Lilo" comes to mind. Now you don't know either of my references, but maybe make your own or think of this silly email. I think there is a different trick for each thing you have to memorize! Good luck.
Nov 19, 2011 - 09:29 PM
Thanks guys! I think once I started memorizing the gender of the word and then actually visualizing how the articles are added to form a new article, that helped a lot. I'm also a very visual person. I would take screen shots of Sonia showing (for example) del + la+ della and then always have them open on my desktop to see. It's coming along good so far. Grazie mile for your advice. :)