In Italian, what happens to the indefinite article?

Question

If I have the sentence Ecco ___ bravo studente, would I use un or uno in the blank? Generally (in Italian), if you have a sentence where the adjective precedes the noun, does the indefinite article change depending on the adjective or the noun?

Answer 1

UN (that can't be never apostrophized) precedes all the male singular terms (either nouns or adjectives) that begin with a vowel or a consonant (excluded those listed below).
For example un uomo, un biscotto, un cero, un dado,un hotel.
You must use UNO if the noun or the adjective begins by x,y,z or by one of the groups of consonants like gn,pn or ps or by 's' followed by a consonant (like sb,st,sm,sn,etc).
For example uno sceicco, uno scopo ,uno gnomo, uno psichiatra, uno pneumatico, uno xilofono, uno yogourt, uno zaino.
By following this rule in the posted sentence you must write "Ecco un bravo studente" but by inverting the order of writing of the adj.and noun you should write "Ecco uno studente bravo".

Answer 2

Good questions. Yes, Italian is different from English, you can't always translate directly, and the word order is often different from English. The prepositions are usually particularly difficult for English-speakers because of the lack of rules.