Questo e Quello — This and That in Italian

How I learned to say “this” and “that” in Italian

 

As a child in an Italian-American household, I learned snippets of Italian from my grandmother, who would pepper her conversation with Italian phrases that always sounded so much more expressive than their English counterparts.  And, since they were a part of my everyday intereactions,  these Italian phrases easily became a part of my vocabulary.

For instance, take the demonstrative adjectives questo and quello.  Because my  grandmother used questo and quello often to point things out,  I knew what these adjectives meant and how to use them before learning the official rules of Italian grammar.

At the dinner table, I learned that
if you wanted “a little bit of this”
you used “un po’ di questo”
or “a little bit of that”
you said, “un po’ di quello, ”
while pointing to what you’d like.

Hence the name “demonstrative” adjective for questo and quello, which I learned later. At home, we all instinctively understood that “this” was for something near my grandmother’s seat at the table, and “that” for something a bit farther away.

And my grandmother, who loved both to cook and to eat,  always wanted to try a bit of everything.   But not too much of any one dish.  So I heard these phrases often!

Of course, every student of Italian quickly learns that Italian adjectives are required to match the gender of the noun they modify.  And, after many a wonderful Sunday dinner, it seemed natural to my ear to use questo and quello  to match the -o ending of  an Italian masculine noun and to change these adjectives to questa or quella to match the -a ending of an Italian feminine noun.

Maybe the request was for questo vino — this wine — either my grandmother’s favorite red (rosso) or white (bianco).  Or, possibly quella melanzana —  that eggplant.  The rules didn’t matter at the time.  What I did appreciate was how the identical adjective-noun endings gave Italian its lovely melodic sound.

How  questo and quello fit into an Italian sentence

We’ve already discussed Italian adjectives in detail in the blog How to use colorful Italian adjectives.  From this blog, you’ll recall that certain Italian adjectives always come before they noun they modify, while others always come after.  And some may be placed either before or after the noun, with the placement creating different shades of meaning for the same adjective.

The demonstrative adjectives questo and quello  always precede the noun they modify.  This works nicely in Italian if one wants to point out something and then add an additional description for clarification.

Back to my grandmother’s examples.  As noted, one evening she might mention questo vino rosso, or this red wine, already sitting on the table nearby to accompany our dinner of spaghetti and meatballs with red sauce.  The demonstrative adjective questo and precedes the noun vino, followed by the adjective rosso.

At another Sunday dinner, my grandmother might ask to be served “un po’ di quella melanzana parmigiana,”  or a little of that eggplant Parmesan at the other end of the table, using the feminine demonstrative adjectve quella.  Once again, quella preceds the noun melanzana and a second adjective, parmigiana, follows it. 

Of course, the combinations for using questo/quello and questa/quella at the dinner table are endless!  Later, when I learned the grammar behind the demonstrative adjectives, I discovered a few more “rules” which were created to help the Italian language flow even more smoothly, which are shared below.

The Italian grammar of  questo and quello

Questo and quello are called demonstrative adjectives. They mean this and that, and, as noted above in the story of my childhood,  and are used to point out something that is near to the speaker – this – or far from the speaker – that.

 Feminine Demonstrative Adjectives Questa and Quella

The feminine demonstrative adjectives questa (this) and quella (that) have -a endings and are used to modify feminine singular nouns. Feminine singular nouns usually end in -a, but can also end in -e, in which case they are designated feminine.

If the singular feminine noun modified by questa or quella begins with a vowel, the -a ending of questa or quella can be dropped. The adjectives questa and quella and the noun that follows are then combined with an apostrophe in order to make conversation flow more smoothly. Unfortunately, there is no hard and fast rule for when to drop the -a ending and when to keep it. In some regions of Italy, even the “que” of questa is dropped and only “sta” is left to mean “this.” As usual, listening to the language as it is spoken by a native is the best and most natural way to pick up when to use the different variations of these adjectives.

A few examples:

Questa
questa casa	this house
questa amica	this girlfriend
quest’altra	this other

 

Quella
quella casa	that house
quella amica	that girlfriend
quell’altra	that other

Questa casa è il mio preferito di tutti; mi piace la zona, il colore e più di tutto il visto del mare.
This house is my favorite of all; I like the neighborhood, the color, and most of all the view of the sea.

Questa amica mia, Maria, è una vera amica; quell’altra, no!  
This girlfriend of mine, Mary, is a true friend; that other, no!

Quella lezione è stato molto difficile!
That lesson was very difficult!

Masculine Demonstrative Adjective Questo

The masculine demonstrative adjective questo (this) has an -o ending and is used to modify masculine singular nouns. Masculine singular nouns usually end in -o, but can also end in -e, in which case they are designated masculine.

If the singular masculine noun modified by questo begins with a vowel, the -o ending of questo will be dropped and questo and noun combined with an apostrophe to make conversation flow more smoothly.

Questo
questo giorno	this day
quest’amico	this friend (male)

Questo giorno è il giorno più felice della mia vita.
This day is the happiest day of my life!

Ti presento quest’amico mio Marco.
Let me introduce you to my friend Mark.

Questo sole è molto forte oggi!
This sun is very strong today!

Masculine Demonstrative Adjective Quello

The masculine demonstrative adjective quello (that) is used to modify masculine singular nouns.  But quello does not follow the simple Italian gender rules when changing its ending to agree with the noun it modifies. Instead, quello follows the rules for Italian masculine definite articles.

Specifically, quello modifies the same nouns as the definite article lo; quello is only used before the singular form of Italian masculine nouns that begin with s + consonant, z, ps, gn or pn. This is similar to another adjective that ends in -lo, bello, that we have encountered in a previous blog, “Bello means, ‘It’s nice!'”

The -o ending of quello is dropped to make quel to modify all singular masculine nouns that begin with a consonant, except for those noted in the last paragraph. An apostrophe and an additional letter -l are added to make quell’  for singular masculine nouns that begin with a vowel.

Back to our original story…

When speaking about which wine to choose for dinner, if my grandmother waanted to remind us of that red wine in the wine cellar we were saving for a special occasion to be brought to the table, she would have to say, quel vino rosso.

Once again…

The rules for combining quello with an Italian masculine noun
are not as complicated as they may seem at first,
as they are the same rules as for the masculine definite article!

Quello
quel giorno	that day
quell’amico	that friend
quello zio	that uncle

Vorrei un po’ di quel vino rosso, per favore.
I’d like a little of that red wine, please.

Quell’amico mio, Marco, è un vero amico.
That friend of mine, Mark, is a true friend.

Quello zio, l’uno davanti il portone,  è il mio preferito.
That uncle, the one in front of the entrance, is my favorite.