The seven ways to say 'the' are il, lo, l', la, i, gli, and le. Now here are the rules for deciding which of these forms to use.
il = will precede masculine singular nouns that begin with a consonant, except words beginning with ps, pn, gn, z and s followed by a consonant.
il libro = the book
il ragazzo = the boy
lo = will precede masculine singular nouns that begin with ps, pn, gn, z and s followed by a consonant.
lo specchio = the mirror
lo studente = the student
l' = will precede all masculine and feminine singular nouns beginning with a vowel.
l'amico = the friend
l'acqua = the water
la = will precede all feminine singular nouns beginning with a consonant.
la donna = the woman
la ragazza = the girl
i = is the plural form of il.
i libri = the books
i ragazzi = the boys
gli = is the plural form of lo and l' for masculine plural nouns.
gli specchi = the mirrors
gli amici = the friends
le = is the plural form of both la and l' for feminine plural nouns.
le donne = the women
le acque = the waters
parlare = to speak
cantare = to sing
mangiare = to eat
studiare = to study
giocare = to play
pensare = to think
comprare = to buy
imparare = to learn
amare = to love
Then to conjugate the infinitive, you will drop the 'are' and add the following endings:
io = add 'o'
tu = add 'i'
Lei/lui/lei = add 'a'
noi = add 'iamo'
voi = add 'ate'
loro = add 'ano'
So, for example, here is how to conjugate the verb 'cantare.'
cantare = to sing
io canto = I sing
tu canti = you sing
Lei/lui/lei canta = you/he/she sings
noi cantiamo = we sing
voi cantate = you sing
loro cantano = they sing
Lui mangia la pizza. = He eats the pizza.
Noi mangiamo la pasta. = We eat the pasta.
Loro mangiano gli spaghetti. = They eat the spaghetti.
Io studio il libro. = I study the book.
Lei studia l'italiano. = She studies Italian.
Antonio ama Claudia. = Antonio loves Claudia.
Gli amici giocano il calcio. = The friends play soccer.
To ask a question in Italian, you just say the sentence with a questioning inflection at the end of the sentence.
Tu parli l'italiano. = You speak Italian
Tu parli l'italiano? = Do you speak Italian?
Another short cut you can do in Italian, is you can drop the pronoun entirely because the verb changes for every pronoun. For example, you can say
Io compro il pane. = I buy the bread
Or you can drop the 'io' and just say
Compro il pane. = I buy the bread. Because the word 'compro' is only used with 'io,' you can drop the 'io' and it is apparent that you mean 'I buy.'
lettera = letter
discorso = speech
stanza = room
lezione = lesson
giornale = newspaper
lingua = language, tongue
ogni = every
sempre = always
oggi = today
ieri = yesterday
domani = tomorrow
dopodomani = day after tomorrow
per = for
se = if
scrivere = to write
leggere = to read
credere = to believe
vedere = to see
Then to conjugate these infinitives, you will drop the 'ere' and add the following endings:
io = add 'o'
tu = add 'i'
Lei/lui/lei = add 'e'
noi = add 'iamo'
voi = add 'ete'
loro = add 'ono'
So to conjugate the verb 'scrivere':
io scrivo
tu scrivi
Lei/lui/lei scrive
noi scriviamo
voi scrivete
loro scrivono
Noi leggiamo il discorso. = We read the speech.
Io leggo il giornale. = I read the newspaper.
Susana vede la casa. = Susana saw the house.
Loro credono la lezione = They believed the lesson.