{"id":21240,"date":"2018-11-29T12:10:39","date_gmt":"2018-11-29T03:10:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dante-learning.com\/eng\/?p=21240"},"modified":"2026-04-23T03:39:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T18:39:34","slug":"italian-demonstratives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dante-learning.com\/eng\/italian-demonstratives\/","title":{"rendered":"Italian Demonstratives: questo, quello, ci\u00f2 and stesso (A2-B1)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\ud83d\udd0d In short.<\/strong> Italian has two main demonstratives. Questo is “this” (near me), quello is “that” (away from me). Questo has four tidy endings (questo, questa, questi, queste) and never gives trouble. Quello copies the definite article: quel libro (il libro), quello zaino (lo zaino), quell’amico (l’amico), quella macchina (la macchina), quei libri (i libri), quegli amici (gli amici), quelle macchine (le macchine). For the abstract neuter “this thing \/ that thing” use ci\u00f2 (invariable). For “the same” use stesso. The distance can be physical, temporal (questo mese vs quell’anno), or psychological (non dire queste cose).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What you will master:<\/strong> the proximal \/ distal split, the full questo table, the quello paradigm (the single biggest pain for English learners), ci\u00f2 for abstract references, stesso and medesimo for “the same”, reinforcers questo qui \/ quello l\u00ec, and the three kinds of distance Italians mark with these words.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Proximal and distal: why Italian needs two demonstratives<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

English has a two-way contrast: this \/ these<\/em> vs that \/ those<\/em>. Italian has essentially the same contrast, but it marks it with two different word families. Questo covers what is near the speaker, quello covers what is away from the speaker. In practice “near” and “away” are not always physical: Italians also use the split for time (questo mese, quell’anno) and for psychological distance (non dire queste cose qui).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A third demonstrative, codesto, used to mark things near the listener (equivalent to old English yonder<\/em> with a twist). Outside Tuscan dialect and bureaucratic writing it has almost disappeared in the spoken language. You can recognise it in a legal letter (“codesto ufficio”) but you do not need to use it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Questo: the easy one with four endings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Questo works exactly like a normal adjective in -o \/ -a \/ -i \/ -e. Four forms. No surprises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

gender \/ number<\/th>form<\/th>example<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
masculine singular<\/td>questo<\/td>questo libro, questo amico, questo zaino<\/td><\/tr>
feminine singular<\/td>questa<\/td>questa ragazza, questa macchina<\/td><\/tr>
masculine plural<\/td>questi<\/td>questi libri, questi amici, questi zaini<\/td><\/tr>
feminine plural<\/td>queste<\/td>queste ragazze, queste macchine<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Before a vowel questo and questa usually elide to quest’: quest’anno, quest’estate, quest’idea. Plurals do not elide: questi amici, queste idee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quello: the one that copies the article<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Quello is the form that makes English speakers sweat. The reason: it does not have a fixed shape. It takes the same shape as the definite article that would naturally go with the noun. If the noun takes “il”, quello becomes “quel”. If the noun takes “lo”, quello becomes “quello”. If the noun takes “l'”, quello becomes “quell'”. And so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you memorise the article pattern (il \/ lo \/ l’ \/ la \/ i \/ gli \/ le), you already know the quello paradigm. They are the same logic.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\ud83d\udd0d The mental rule.<\/strong> Think of the noun with its article first (il libro, lo zaino, l’amico). Replace the article with the matching quello form (quel libro, quello zaino, quell’amico). You will never get the paradigm wrong.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The full quello paradigm in one table<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
article<\/th>quello form<\/th>example<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
il<\/td>quel<\/td>quel libro, quel ragazzo, quel treno<\/td><\/tr>
lo<\/td>quello<\/td>quello zaino, quello studente, quello psicologo<\/td><\/tr>
l’ (masc.)<\/td>quell’<\/td>quell’amico, quell’uomo, quell’albergo<\/td><\/tr>
la<\/td>quella<\/td>quella ragazza, quella macchina, quella casa<\/td><\/tr>
l’ (fem.)<\/td>quell’<\/td>quell’amica, quell’isola, quell’opera<\/td><\/tr>
i<\/td>quei<\/td>quei libri, quei ragazzi, quei treni<\/td><\/tr>
gli<\/td>quegli<\/td>quegli zaini, quegli amici, quegli studenti<\/td><\/tr>
le<\/td>quelle<\/td>quelle ragazze, quelle macchine, quelle amiche<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Typical traps: quegli studenti<\/em> not *quei studenti (gli studenti, not *i studenti). Quell’amico<\/em> not *quel amico (l’amico, not *il amico). Quello psicologo<\/em> not *quel psicologo (lo psicologo, not *il psicologo). The quello form mirrors the article exactly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Demonstratives as pronouns: this one, that one, those<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Questo and quello are not only adjectives. They also work as standalone pronouns meaning “this one \/ that one”. In the pronominal use, quello loses the article-mirroring gymnastics and keeps four simple endings: quello, quella, quelli, quelle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n