Indefinite articles used as pronouns

In certain sentences, indefinite articles act as pronouns. In this case, the English equivalent does not match the Italian syntax, so an example will make this concept easy to understand:

an old dog - an old one (one acts as a pronoun, meaning dog) beautiful flowers - beautiful ones (again, ones acts as a pronoun)

In Italian, one used as a pronoun is translated with the same indefinite article uno or una before the noun: as already explained, article uno also has the meaning of one (as a numeral), so in these cases it acts both as an article and a pronoun at the same time:

un vecchio cane = an old dog uno vecchio = an old one

The only difference is that the full-length expression uno or una are used (not un, or un', as indefinite articles): this gives stress to the fact that the article also acts as a pronoun. As a result, only two forms are possible: uno (always used for masculine) and una (always used for feminine). Here are a few more examples:

un'ampia veduta = a wide view una ampia = a wide one uno speciale apparecchio = a special device uno speciale = a special one una grossa scatola = a large box una grossa = a large one un'improbabile circostanza = an unlikely circumstance una improbabile = an unlikely one

Foreseeing a common impression, I agree that these topics might appear complicated ...but only for non-Italian speakers, of course. The three ways of mastering these patterns are practice, more practice and practice again.

NOTES

for phonetic reasons, nouns starting with the diptongues (cluster of two vowels) ia, ie, io and iu, require the full article, without elision, despite the general rule; for example: lo iodio (iodine, in Italian it requires an article). But these words are pretty rare, so don't worry about them now. feminine plural words starting with e (esposizioni = expositions, evidenze = evidences, etc.) now use the full article le, which means that the pronounciation of both vowels e should be heard: le entrate (the income) would be pronounced "leh ehntrahteh". In older times, this article used to be treated as for singular nouns starting with a vowel: l'entrate, l'esposizioni, etc... But now this does not occur any longer.

.5 THE POSITION OF ADJECTIVES

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English adjectives usually come before the noun (with very few exceptions, such as "prince charming", or similar expressions). Italian adjectives, instead, may come either before or after the matching noun:

una piccola casa

una casa piccola

Both expressions above mean a small house, but in the second one the idea of small is slightly more emphasized. Two further situations will make this concept more evident:

He lives in a small house not far from mine

It is a small house compared to the average

The main concept of the first sentence is that "somebody lives nearby", not that "his house is small": in Italian, the adjective would come before the noun (una piccola casa). In the second expression, the fact that "the house is small" is much more important for the overall sense of the sentence: in this case the Italian adjective would come after the noun (una casa piccola). Also the tone of the voice can be used to express different concepts: in the second sentence, small house would be pronounced with a slight stress. But don't worry: in Italian, the general idea would be understood in both cases. The pattern "noun - adjective" is as common as the opposite one "adjective - noun", though in certain expressions the "adjective - noun" pattern might be incorrect, or sound very strange to an Italian. For example, when colours are used as adjectives, they always follow the noun:

a black cat would always be un gatto nero the green leaves always le foglie verdi the blue skyalways il cielo azzurro

The opposite form (le verdi foglie, l'azzurro cielo, etc.) would sound unusual, or poetical, but it would never be used in common speech. Anyway, it's not really important to master this concept now; simply, be aware that adjectives may either follow the noun, or may be used before it with a less emphasized meaning.

ADJECTIVES grande, bello, buono

Three very common adjectives, grande (big, great, large), bello (nice, pretty, handsom), and buono (good), when used before a noun, sometimes drop one or two letters for phonetic reason.

grande

un grande castello (a big castle) may be shortened in un gran castello, thus creating a more fluent rythm, but both forms are perfectly correct, and which of the two is used is just a personal choice. The same thing happens with feminine nouns: una grande nazione (a big nation) may become una gran nazione, although the first expression would be more used, so don't worry too much about this one. Plurals of both genders behave as singular forms: grandi castelli or (less common) gran castelli, grandi nazioni or (less common) gran nazioni.

bello

This adjective is slightly more complicated, although its changes only concern masculine gender: un bel gatto (a nice cat) shows the same change as above (i.e. the loss of two letters), but in this case it is not a free choice: un bello gatto would sound unacceptable. Therefore, as a general rule, when bello is used in masculine singular form before a noun it has to be shortened. Other examples are: un bel cappotto (a nice coat); un bel lavoro (a nice job); etc. When the shortening occurs before nouns whose first letter is a vowel, only one is dropped instead of two, and an apostrophe links the adjective to the noun (as happens with articles l' and un', dealt with in paragraph 2.3): un bell'orologio (a nice watch) is the only possible form. Other examples are: un bell'uccello (a nice bird); un bell'esemplare (a nice specimen); etc. Feminine does not change: una bella casa (a nice house), la bella isola (the nice island); only when the following noun starts with vowel a, the form bell' may be used: una bella automobile (a nice car) or una bell'automobile (both are correct). Used in masculine plural form, the adjective changes, turning into begli when followed by a vowel, bei when followed by a consonant: begli occhi (pretty eyes); i bei cavalli (the nice horses); i begli abiti (the nice clothes); bei gioielli (nice jewels); etc. No change occurs in feminine plural: le belle vacanze (the nice holidays); le belle arti (the fine arts); le belle melodie (the nice melodies).

buono

buono is much easier: masculine singular requires the short form buon (without apostrophe): un buon prezzo (a good price); un buon impiego (a good job); un buon televisore (a good TV set); etc.. Feminine singular has no special change: una buona marca</B> (a good brand); una buona giornata (a good day); una buona cena (a good dinner); etc. Plurals never change: i buoni amici (the good friends); buone maniere (good manners); buoni strumenti (good instruments); buone notizie (good news, note how in Italian this noun is plural), etc. Summarizing these irregular adjectives for an easier memorization:

following noun starts with...	masculine singular	feminine singular	masculine plural	feminine plural
vowel	grande (gran)	grande (gran)	grandi (gran)	grandi (gran)
consonant	grande (gran)	grande (gran)	grandi (gran)	grandi (gran)
vowel	bell'	bella (bell')	begli	belle
consonant	bel	bella	bei	belle
vowel	buon	buona	buoni	buone
consonant	buon	buona	buoni	buone

Obviously, when these adjectives are used after the noun, no changes occur and standard inflections are used:

gran castello, but castello grande bell'uomo, but uomo bello buon prezzo, but prezzo buono

But with any of the two forms, remember to make a correct match between the adjective's gender and number, and those of the noun it relates to: a masculine plural noun always requires a masculine plural adjective, a singular feminine noun always needs a feminine singular adjective, and so on.