Demonstrative Adjectives

Demonstrative adjectives are the Italian equivalents of "this" and "that." They allow you to point out specific people or things, whether nearby or far away. Italian has two demonstrative systems: questo (this/these) and quello (that/those). While questo is straightforward, quello has a special set of forms that mirror the definite article.

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Questo — This / These

Questo means "this" (nearby) and follows the regular four-ending pattern:

Form	Before Consonant	Before Vowel
Masc. singular	questo libro (this book)	**quest'**uomo (this man)
Fem. singular	questa casa (this house)	**quest'**amica (this friend)
Masc. plural	questi libri (these books)	questi uomini (these men)
Fem. plural	queste case (these houses)	queste amiche (these friends)

Key points:

• Questo/questa can be shortened to quest' before a vowel in the singular
• The plural forms (questi/queste) are never shortened
• Questo does not require the definite article

Questo caffè è buono.             (This coffee is good.)
Quest'idea è fantastica!           (This idea is fantastic!)
Questi ragazzi sono italiani.      (These boys are Italian.)
Queste scarpe sono comode.         (These shoes are comfortable.)

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Quello — That / Those

Quello means "that" (further away) and has a more complex set of forms. Its forms change depending on the first letter of the following word, just like the definite article:

Definite Article	Quello Form	Used Before...	Example
il	quel	Masc. sing. + consonant	quel ragazzo (that boy)
lo	quello	Masc. sing. + s+cons., z, gn, ps	quello studente (that student)
l'	quell'	Masc. sing. + vowel	**quell'**uomo (that man)
la	quella	Fem. sing. + consonant	quella donna (that woman)
l'	quell'	Fem. sing. + vowel	**quell'**amica (that friend)
i	quei	Masc. pl. + consonant	quei ragazzi (those boys)
gli	quegli	Masc. pl. + vowel, s+cons., z, gn, ps	quegli studenti (those students)
le	quelle	Fem. pl. (all)	quelle donne (those women)

Tip: If you know the Italian definite articles well, you already know the quello forms. Just replace the article with the corresponding quello form: il → quel, lo → quello, l' → quell', la → quella, i → quei, gli → quegli, le → quelle.

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Side-by-Side Comparison: Articles and Quello

Article	Quello	Before...
il libro	quel libro	consonant (masc. sing.)
lo specchio	quello specchio	s+consonant (masc. sing.)
lo zaino	quello zaino	z (masc. sing.)
**l'**albero	**quell'**albero	vowel (masc. sing.)
la sedia	quella sedia	consonant (fem. sing.)
**l'**isola	**quell'**isola	vowel (fem. sing.)
i libri	quei libri	consonant (masc. pl.)
gli specchi	quegli specchi	s+consonant (masc. pl.)
gli alberi	quegli alberi	vowel (masc. pl.)
le sedie	quelle sedie	all fem. pl.

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Questo vs. Quello in Context