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When do you use certain definite articles in the Italian language?
I’m learning on Duolingo and it seems to be random wether a noun has a definite article or not.
I know it’s different to English in the sense that more words are preceded by definite articles, but is there a rule to which ones are and does it rely on the situation?
One example is “La donna mangia panini” (The woman eats sandwiches) but then “La donna mangia le mele” (The woman eats apples) requires a definite article.
As a first approximation, saying la donna mangia panini, while being a legitimate way to say “the woman eats sandwiches”, sounds slightly wooden, like that's the only thing she eats, a bit like saying that a herbivore feeds on such and such. La donna mangia i panini would mostly mean that she is eating some particular sandwiches we already know about. Finally, la donna mangia dei panini is a possible way to say that she eats (some, generic) sandwiches. Of course, the same holds for la donna mangia -/le/delle mele.
A general coverage of the use in Italian of definite articles (i panini), indefinite articles (un panino), partitive articles (dei panini) or no article at all (panini) would require a book, including situations that, while not at all random, are nevertheless very idiomatic. For instance you often use definite article even with a generic noun, rather than one you have recently mentioned (for instance, I love coffee = Mi piace il caffè).
Sorry to say so, but just with Duolingo you'll never get even close to catching these nuances, said as one who's giving Duolingo a chance but is exasperated by its utter lack of explanations.
