demonstratives

Italian Demonstratives: Questo and Quello

In Italian, demonstratives are words used to point out specific people or things in relation to the speaker. They function as adjectives and must agree in gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural) with the noun they describe.

1. Questo (This)

Questo is used to indicate someone or something that is physically or figuratively close to the speaker.

• Questo (Masculine Singular): questo libro (this book)
• Questa (Feminine Singular): questa ragazza (this girl)
• Questi (Masculine Plural): questi libri (these books)
• Queste (Feminine Plural): queste ragazze (these girls)

In everyday spoken Italian, you might hear shortened forms like 'sta or 'sto, especially in words like stamattina (this morning) or stasera (this evening).

2. Quello (That)

Quello is used to indicate someone or something far from the speaker. This demonstrative is unique because its forms change depending on the first letter of the following word, just like the definite articles (il, lo, l', la, etc.).

Masculine Forms:

• Quel: Used before most consonants. Example: quel libro (that book)
• Quello: Used before "s + consonant", "z", "ps", "gn". Example: quello studente (that student)
• Quell': Used before a vowel. Example: quell'italiano (that Italian man)
• Quei: Plural of "quel". Example: quei libri (those books)
• Quegli: Plural of "quello" and "quell'". Example: quegli studenti (those students)

Feminine Forms:

• Quella: Used before consonants. Example: quella donna (that woman)
• Quell': Used before vowels. Example: quell'italiana (that Italian woman)
• Quelle: Plural for all feminine nouns. Example: quelle italiane (those Italian women)

3. Codesto and Reinforcements

There is a third demonstrative, codesto (that one near you), but it is rarely used today outside of Tuscany or formal literature. To add emphasis or clarify distance, Italians often add adverbs:

• Questo... qui/qua: questa casa qui (this house right here)
• Quello... lì/là: quell'uomo là (that man over there)