The use of italian indefinite articles

Ciao,

i have a question regarding the use of "a". From the dialogue between maria and alex in module 1.3, maria asked alex what he would like to order (boungiorno, preggo?) and alex replied "una pizza con la mozzarella".
From what i understand, ​una is an feminine indefinite article. When a lady speaks, she would say una casa, for example.

However, from the dialogue in module 1.3, does it mean that a man can use "una" when he is answering/replying a lady? And the same applies to "the" and "an" articles?

Thank you. :)

Ciao jingling,

The gender of the indefinite (and definite) articles does not depend on the gender of the speaker, but on the gender of the noun. Pizza and casa are feminine nouns, so they follow feminine articles. The same holds true for masculine nouns, such as piatto (plate), which follows un (the masculine indefinite article).

Un piatto di spaghetti = A plate of spaghetti
Whether if it's a man or a woman talking, or a man or a woman the recipient of the message, the articles stays the same.

Hope this helps!
 

Hi Lucia,

what if it is a general question?

For example, i want to ask someone what is this (the object is unknown, thus the noun is unknown to me) in Italian language.
this = questo (Male), questa (Female)
Do i say Che e questa? (Because i am a female) OR do i say Che e questo? (Regardless of my gender)?

Grazie mille!!:)

Hi jingling,

You would say Che è questo? (more formal and common: cos'è questo?) regardless of your gender. So the masculine form is used.

Hope this helps! :)