Pl help...?

Question

Hi am learning italian..I've got this nagging doubt where i should use "il" and where i should use "la" before the words..
for beer its la birra
for dog its il cane
Y is it so???
How do i know that for this english word i should use la while translating or il while translating..
Pl help and clear my doubt..
Grazie...

Answer 1

You have to learn the gender, but it's usually regular. If it ends in "-a" or "-zione", it's usually feminine, so it takes "la". If it ends in "-o" or "-e" it's probably masculine and takes either "il" or "lo" ("il" is used for most nouns, and "lo" before vowels or s-plus-consonant). There are exceptions, but those are the rules. And, if you have to look up a word in the dictionary, it should give an indication of gender.

Answer 2

Sorry to give you the sad news. Gender in language is "just that way". The answer is a dictionary. Just be grateful because the Latin which Italian comes from has three genders (feminine, masculine, neuter). German also has three "genders". Even across different languages the genders don't always match for words.

Sometimes there are certain groups of words which end with certain things which are all feminine and all masculine. You should find these in a grammar or on-line somewhere.

Mostly it's just flat memory work or intuition from hearing the language. But, don't let that keep you from trying to speak! Natives don't always know gender perfectly! And, for writing, well yes, if your memory is poor you may have to look up each word in a dictionary.

Of course, occasionally gender does matter and can lead to an obscenity or something like confusing lawyers and avocados. Spelling and phonetics may be an issue too on this point. But, generally as a non-native no one really cares about these little things and will laugh.

There is no easy way for learning a language. Be methodical and persistant like sports. For language, 10 minutes a day beats one hour a week. Whatever anyone says if you invest 10 minutes each and every day you will make some progress.

My Latin teacher said: write it; see it; say it aloud. This is solid advice and repetition is key.

Answer 3

My God all you have to do is learn it.There's no trick to it. It's the same in french or spanish for example and german even has 3(der,die ,das)

Answer 4

Heeeeyyyyyy

I have to learn the same... Let me know if interested.. we can do it together