A number of issues surround the acquisition of the article by Sinophone learners of the Italian language. In the passage from classifier/noun combination to article/name agreement, the role of classifiers and of existential constructions in the expression of definiteness in Chinese can be highlighted. Two generativist models, based on the peculiarities of bare nominals, prove useful to the analysis: on the one hand, the typology of nominal system, focused on the contrast between languages which obligatorily mark nouns as singular/plural vs languages with a generalized use of classifiers, i.e. where numerals cannot directly combine with nouns; on the other hand, the development of the aforementioned nominal system typology with reference to second language article acquisition, based on two universal parameters, [+/− specificity] and [+/− definiteness].