Hi Deo, you need to start from the knowledge of the DEFINITE ARTICLES (THE) and how to chose them: MASCULINE SINGULAR: IL - MS words starting with consonant – IL LIBRO, IL GATTO, IL PROFESSORE LO - MS words starting with some specific letters/groups: S+consonant = LO SPAGNOLO (the spanish) Z = LO ZUCCHERO (the sugar) Y = LO YOGURT (the yogurt) PS = LO PSICOLOGO (the psychologist) PN = LO PNEUPATICO (the tyre) GN = LO GNOMO (the dwarf) X = LO XILOFONO (the xilophone) L’ = MS words starting with vowel FEMININE SINGULAR LA = FS words starting with consonant – LA SCUOLA, LA MADRE, LA PROFESSORESSA L’ = FS words starting with vowel – L’AMICA, L’APE MASCULINE PLURAL I = MP words starting with consonant – I LIBRI, I GATTI, I PROFESSORI GLI = MP words starting with the special consonants and vowels – GLI SPAGNOLI, GLI PSICOLOGI, GLI AMICI FEMININE PLURAL: LE – FP all – LE SCUOLE, LE MADRI, LE PROFESSORESSE, LE AMICHE, LE API Once you master the definite articles, you will know that, for example, with DI (of) and IN (in): IN + LA = nella (in the) DI + LA = della (of the, about the) IN + LO = nello (in the) DI + LO = dello (of the, about the) and so on, following the same rules as the definite articles alone as above. Ciao! Lucia

The prepositional articles (in Italian Preposizioni articolate) are very frequent in Italian sentences and they describe a relationship between other words in a sentence. They are "made" by adding the determinative article to the preposition. For instance, the one you used: della is formed with "di" (preposition) + "la" (determinative article). They follow the same rules of articles, that is why you find della, dello or del, because they have to follow the same gender and number of the name they are describing. if you find "della banca" it means someone is say something "about the bank". For instance: "la direttrice della banca è una donna/ the bank's manager is a woman". In this sentence we are using "della" as we use the " 's" in English. Another example: "Abbiamo parlato della banca/we talked about the bank." Here della is used as "about" in English. The prepositional articles are many and they all have different use but if you learn how to use the simple preposition (di, a, da,... ) you can also use the prepositional articles. For instance the other prepositional, "nel" is used as the English "in the" for example "il fiore é nel vaso/ the flower is in the vase". I hope I was helpful but if you have more questions feel free to ask, I'll be happy to help you.

Yes, the rule is the same as "nel, nella, nello..", since both are "preposizioni articolate", articulated prepositions. They are contracted forms. Di + il = del, di+ lo = dello, di + la = della, di + i = dei, di + le = delle.. They can be difficult to master, but just because they are very similar, and because it's difficult to remember the right article for each word. But if you remember it, the rule is very simple!