L’articolo partitivo (partitive article) is used to indicate imprecise or approximate quantities. It appears before singular nouns (del miele, del caffè, del burro) as well as before plural nouns of an unspecified amount (dei libri, delle ragazze, degli studenti). The partitive is expressed by the Italian preposition di (of, from) combined with the definite article. For example:
Ho delle cravatte blu. (I have a few blue ties.)
Prende del caffè. (She is drinking some coffee.)
Esco con dei compagni. (I go out with some friends.)
Manca del burro. (He needs some butter.)
ITALIAN PARTITIVE ARTICLES
SINGULAR
PLURAL
feminine
delle
delle
feminine (before a vowel)
dell’
delle
masculine
del
dei
masculine (before a vowel)
dell’
degli
masculine (before the letters z, x consonant, and gn)
dello
degli