Two words can sound the same because in one, there is an article beginning with L connected to the noun by way of an apostrophe (such as l'ago [the needle]) and in the other one, the first letter is L, such as lago [lake]. When we hear them, we distinguish them from the context, because otherwise, there is no way to know.

One tricky thing in lots of languages is when words sound the same but are written differently and have different meanings. In English, these are called, "homophones," part of the larger group, "homonyms."

Marika gives us a trick for how to know if del, della, or degli (all meaning "of the") are articulated prepositions or partitive articles. Sounds complicated, but isn't really. See her previous videos about these grammar topics: preposizioni articolate - articoli partitivi.

Find out the various different meanings of these words: campo, squadra, and verso.

Ready for some more Italian words with various different meanings? Marika talks about albero, batteria, and dado.

Marika talks about three words — piano, credenza, and tempo — that have something important in common. They all have multiple meanings, not just nuances, not just connotations. Technically, they are called polysemous or polysemic words.

Marika explains what partitive articles are all about and gives us some helpful examples.

Articoli partitivi, or partitive articles look like articoli articolati because they are formed with a preposition plus an article. But their function is different. Most of the time they are a way to say “some.” This lesson is about how to form them, and in future lessons, we will learn how to use them.

Marika adds the preposition con (with) to the list of prepositions that combine with definite articles.

Marika concentrates on the preposition su [on] in combination with various articles to form the very useful sul, sui, sugli, sulla, sulle and sull'.

We look at the preposition in [in, to, at] and how it combines with the various definite articles.

In this video, the preposition we combine with a definite article is da. It can mean "from," but also "to" and "at." So, combined with the different definite articles, it's going to mean "from the," "to the," or "at the."

We look at the preposition a combined with different definite articles. This preposizione articolata is used, for example, in talking about the time: alle otto (at eight o'clock); about a manner or style: alla francese (French-style), al dente (not too cooked).

After looking at simple prepositions, Marika talks about a special kind of preposition called una preposizione articolata. It just means that the preposition has a definite article attached to it. In this segment, she covers the ways the preposition di (of) combines with different articles to become a new complex preposition. For example, di + il = del.

We look at a few more prepositions and see the contexts in which they are used.