agli

AglI is an Italian contraction formed from the preposition a + the definite article gli. It is used before masculine plural nouns when the preposition governs a plural noun that would take the article gli in the standard form. In practice, agli is used before masculine singular nouns that begin with vowels or certain consonant clusters, where the definite article would be gli.

Examples illustrate its use. Vado agli amici means “I’m going to the friends,” with amici starting with a vowel and taking the plural article gli. Parlo agli studenti means “I’m speaking to the students,” where studenti begins with a consonant cluster that requires gli in the plural. Other ordinary cases include agli zii (to the uncles), agli alberi (to the trees), and agli psichiatri (to the psychiatrists).

By contrast, ai is used when the masculine plural noun would take the article i in its simplest form (before most consonants), for example ai ragazzi (to the boys) or ai libri (to the books). Alle and all are used for feminine and other gendered forms (e.g., alle ragazze, all’italiano in singular), but agli specifically marks a contraction of a + gli for masculine plural nouns.

In summary, agli is a standard Italian prepositional contraction indicating “to the” before masculine plural nouns that would be accompanied by the article gli. It is part of the broader system of preposition + article contractions in Italian grammar.