#i really dont like duo sorry i may be biased or whatever but i cant

[sayitaliano]

So I’m learning Italian on Duolingo which means I’m not getting a whole lot of explanation but I am getting a lot of examples that seem to contradict each other.

How do definite articles work in Italian? When do you have to use them, when do you need to omit them?

I’m very lost. Every time I think I’ve figured a pattern out Duo throws an example at me that contradicts it and I can’t tell if I just don’t get it or if Duo itself is making mistakes (which happens!).

I get that the answer may be “you gotta learn to tell by vibe” but I’m coming at this from English, with familiarity with German and Japanese. I have no baseline vibes for articles in Romance languages. I could use some rules of thumb.

Thank you.

Ciao Yeah I understand well your situation: Italian course on Duolingo is useless if you only use that as a source of learning. I realized this trying it myself and from other Italian learners who were as lost as you when it came to understanding the language and using it. I don't want to sound rude or anything cause I understand it seems helpful and well buildt but... I personally discourage its use as it contains grammar mistakes and, as you noticed yourself, it's unreliable and doesn't explain anything. It makes you rush through grammar but teaches you anything in the end. There are far better apps/websites imo and you can always use other grammar resources together with them so to clarify your possible doubts.

Now, to answer you, there are a bunch of posts here in the grammar masterpost and on my instagram (@/sayitaliano) as well all about the articoli determinativi (and indeterminativi too ofc + other variations). There are also posts about when to use them or not: on this specific matter though, I want you to know that there are rules exceptions that you will only learn with practice and once you'll get more comfortable with the language. Seen where you're coming from and all your confusion, I'd suggest you to stick with studying the general use's rules and grow acquainted with the right choice of article (you'll need to learn nouns genders too for this). It doesn't matter if you add an article when it's not required: especially in the beginning it's perfectly fine, just learn to use the right one and how (with which combination of vowels/consonants/gender/number). You can easily postpone the "when to use it or not" to a later moment.

grammar masterpost (look specifically at the articoli section) The main post I am suggesting you and that you'll find in that section is the first one: articoli . There's also the when not to use (more links the masterpost) but again, I would suggest you to not add more confusion to your actual one, and just go step by step. Read the first 3 links of the articoli section and start with them (or read the 2 articoli posts on instagram, which are a resume of these posts). When you feel ready, go on with the others.

Let me know if you need anything or would like to practice what you learned with me one day :) I'm up if you'd like to send a short text or a few sentences just to check your understanding of the rules.