Italian · CEFR Band 1 (A1) · Chapter 7
Dov'è la stazione?Where is the station?
After un/una comes the definite pair: il and la. Un caffè is «some coffee, any coffee»; il caffè is «that specific coffee». And the surprising rule: in Italian the article is there almost ALWAYS — even where many languages drop it. Not «Dov'è stazione?» but «Dov'è LA stazione?». Mike learns it in the street, hunting for a train. New words: la stazione, il ragazzo and la ragazza, il bambino and la bambina — and the question dov'è?
Dialogue
i
Study this section in the Bookverse app
- Spaced repetition schedules your reviews
- Practice tasks with pass tracking
- A teacher on every study screen
- Progress saved across chapters and devices — laptop and phone
- Audio playback for dialogues and words
- Speaking practice with feedback
- Search dictionaries and chat with AI, all inside the app
Sign up and start studying in the Bookverse app.
You will be asked to register first.
Dov'è la stazione?— Where's the station?
- MikeScusi… dov'è la stazione?Excuse me… where's the station?
- RagazzaLa stazione? Ecco la stazione!The station? There's the station — right there!
- MikeGrazie! Arrivederci!Thank you! Goodbye!
- RagazzaPrego! Arrivederci!You're welcome! Goodbye!
Dialogue
i
Study this section in the Bookverse app
- Spaced repetition schedules your reviews
- Practice tasks with pass tracking
- A teacher on every study screen
- Progress saved across chapters and devices — laptop and phone
- Audio playback for dialogues and words
- Speaking practice with feedback
- Search dictionaries and chat with AI, all inside the app
Sign up and start studying in the Bookverse app.
You will be asked to register first.
Il caffè e la pizza— The coffee and the pizza
- GiuliaMarco, dov'è il caffè?Marco, where's the coffee?
- MarcoEcco il caffè — e la pizza!Here's the coffee — and the pizza!
- GiuliaMarco… la pizza è piccola!Marco… the pizza is small!
- MarcoScusa! Ecco DUE pizze!Sorry! Here are TWO pizzas!
Vocabulary
i
Study this section in the Bookverse app
- Spaced repetition schedules your reviews
- Practice tasks with pass tracking
- A teacher on every study screen
- Progress saved across chapters and devices — laptop and phone
- Audio playback for dialogues and words
- Speaking practice with feedback
- Search dictionaries and chat with AI, all inside the app
Sign up and start studying in the Bookverse app.
You will be asked to register first.
- il / la
art.the — il before masculine, la before feminine (the lo/l' forms come in chapter 8)
- la stazione
n.f.the station (an -e noun — feminine; the article tells you)
- il ragazzo
n.m.the boy, the young man
- la ragazza
n.f.the girl, the young woman
- il bambino
n.m.the child (boy), the little kid
- la bambina
n.f.the child (girl), the little kid
- dov'è…?
phrasewhere is…? (dove + è squeezed together — the elision you met in un'acqua)
Grammar
i
Study this section in the Bookverse app
- Spaced repetition schedules your reviews
- Practice tasks with pass tracking
- A teacher on every study screen
- Progress saved across chapters and devices — laptop and phone
- Audio playback for dialogues and words
- Speaking practice with feedback
- Search dictionaries and chat with AI, all inside the app
Sign up and start studying in the Bookverse app.
You will be asked to register first.
Il and la — the article that is almost always there
Explanation
Chapter 4 gave you un/una: «any one». Today the definite pair arrives: il (masculine) and la (feminine) — «that exact one». Un caffè = some coffee; il caffè = that coffee, yours. The choice follows the gender you already know: il caffè, il libro, il gelato, il ragazzo — la pizza, la casa, la stazione, la ragazza. The real news is a habit: in Italian the noun goes out almost always WITH its article. Dov'è LA stazione? IL caffè è buono. If in your language the article does not exist or often disappears, train your ear: a bare noun is almost always an error. That is why since chapter 4 you learn every noun with its article — they are one piece. (One puzzle piece is missing: lo studente, l'amico. Il's special brothers arrive in chapter 8.)
Examples
- un caffè → il caffèa coffee → the coffee
- il ragazzo, la ragazza — il bambino, la bambinathe boy, the girl — the little boy, the little girl
- Dov'è la stazione? Dov'è il ragazzo?Where is the station? Where is the boy?
- La stazione è lontana. Il paese è lontano.The station is far. The village is far.
Want to actually learn this — with audio, spaced repetition and progress tracking?
Study in the app →