Demonstrative adjectives - Easy Learning Grammar Italian

What is a demonstrative adjective?
A demonstrative adjective is used to point out a particular thing or person.
There are four demonstrative adjectives in English: this, these, that and those.

1 Using demonstrative adjectives

As in English, Italian demonstrative adjectives go BEFORE the noun. Like other adjectives in Italian, they have to change for the feminine and plural forms.
To say this, use questo, which has four forms, like any other adjective ending in –o.

	Masculine	Feminine	Meaning
Singular	questo	questa	this
Plural	questi	queste	these

Questa gonna è troppo stretta.	This skirt is too tight.
Questi pantaloni mi piacciono.	I like these trousers.
Queste scarpe sono comode.	These shoes are comfortable.

To say that, use quello, which has several different forms, like the definite article:

use quel with a masculine noun starting with a consonant

quel ragazzo

that boy

use quello with a masculine noun starting with z or s + another consonant

quello zaino	that rucksack
quello studente	that student

use quell’ with nouns starting with a vowel

quell’albero	that tree
quell’amica	that friend

use quella with a feminine noun starting with a consonant

quella ragazza

that girl

use quei with a masculine plural noun starting with a consonant

quei cani

those dogs

use quegli with a masculine plural noun starting with a vowel, with z or with s + another consonant

quegli uomini	those men
quegli studenti	those students

use quelle before all feminine plural nouns

quelle macchine

those cars

TipWhen you want to say this one, don’t translate one. Use questo if what you’re referring to is masculine, and questa if it’s feminine. The same goes when you want to say that one: use quello, or quella.

Quale casa? – Questa.	Which house? – This one.
Quale zaino? – Quello.	Which rucksack? – That one.

Key points

Use questo or questa for this, and questi or queste for these.
Use quello for that: quello behaves like the definite article, il.

Previous Next