"Gli animali bevono acqua."

Translation: The animals drink water.

[Shortmsgserv]

Gli is if the first letter of the following word begins with a vowel, z or s and a consonant. i is used if the first letter of the word is a consonant.
This site explains it clearly: http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/italian/language_notes/il.html

[clare1010]

I was failed for putting "l'acqua" instead of simply "acqua" without the article - although I was under the impression that in Italian the article should always be used. Is anyone else having this issue?

[m_zw]

I did the same and I was pretty sure the she pronounced the "l'" :(

[cloudsdumpster]

The difference is in what you want to say; "l'acqua" would be the water, a specific one, while just 'acqua' is any water

[etperdomo]

Yes, I think it should be either way.

[Richio]

I don't understand. Do you always put the definite article in front of the town in a sentence like this or can you omit it?

[Telitca.]

you can ommit it

[FrancesVin9]

yes me

[Telitca.]

silly mistake "the animals eat water" omg

[BlackHeart01]

why doesnt Animals drink water correct? i think it's the same

[razrushost]

How to pronounce "gli"? Like "li"? Why? How not to mix it with a word "li" (if it exists)?

[Elon_the_Hittite]

'Gli' should be pronounced as "l'yee". Difficult to get this sound right when it's standalone or begins a word as the 'l' part and the 'yee' part really belong to two separate syllables but consequently easier when in the middle, eg 'luglio' (= lul'yeeo), or at the end, eg 'degli' (= del'yee) of a word.

[MaryEllen24]

Ok, sometimes it is optional to put an indefinite article, but, there are other times when it is not optional. I know because when I forget to put in the article, Duolingo marks it wrong. --- Are there some rules that show when including the article is mandatory and when it is optional or wrong to do so? For instance, I got the following wrong for not putting an article: Lui ha l’acqua. (In Basic 2- Lesson 4 of 5)
Yet Duolingo included several examples in Food Lesson 1 - Io bevo latte. Food Lesson 3 - Non mangio manzo, Food Lesson 6: Io cucino pesce, & Plurals Lessons 1-3 and elsewhere, where, Duolingo itself does not use the articles, for example: Le gate mangiano pane, etc. Thanks!

[Fishtailfl]

What happened to the possive

[Afshin195632]

When should we use the for gli and when we shouldn't?
for example in a similar example "io non mangio gli animal", we shouldn't use the but here we have to use it. Or in this sentence "i pesci bevono acqua" duolingo says the correct answer is "fish" not the fish!
Can somebody please explain the rules?

[Neverland134]

Is it il animal or l'animale?