Learn how to use the sentence pattern "That is "
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Asia: Hi everyone, I'm Asia. |
| Daniele: And I'm Daniele. |
| Asia: And welcome to Must-Know Italian Sentence Structures, Season 1, Lesson 4. Using Adjectives to Describe. |
| Asia: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use a sentence pattern for describing something using an adjective. |
| PATTERN |
| Asia: For example, |
| Asia: "That book is interesting." |
| Daniele: Quel libro è interessante. |
| Daniele: [slow] Quel libro è interessante. |
| Asia: The pattern for describing something using an adjective has 4 elements. First, a demonstrative adjective, in this case "that." |
| Daniele: Quel. |
| Asia: Second, a noun, in this case "book." |
| Daniele: libro. |
| Asia: Third, the verb "to be", conjugated in the third person singular. |
| Daniele: è. |
| Asia: And last, an adjective, in this case "interesting." |
| Daniele: interessante. |
| Asia: Altogether, we have.. "That book is interesting." |
| Daniele: Quel libro è interessante. [slow] Quel libro è interessante. [normal] Quel libro è interessante. |
| Asia: In Italian, the demonstrative adjective |
| Daniele: quel |
| Asia: “that”, describes an object or a person that is not close to the speaker. It always precedes the noun it refers to. Like all adjectives, it is modified by the gender and the number of the noun. |
| Daniele: Quel |
| Asia: refers only to the masculine, singular nouns. |
| Laura: Quella |
| Asia: refers to a feminine singular noun, for example.. |
| Daniele: quella casa, |
| Asia: “that house” |
| Daniele: Quel libro è interessante. |
| Asia: So remember that to indicate that an object is far from the speaker, say |
| Daniele: quel |
| Asia: when it’s a masculine, singular noun, or say... |
| Daniele: quella |
| Asia: ...when it’s a feminine singular noun. |
| Asia: Here is another example meaning, "That painting is an antique." First, the demonstrative adjective, in this case "that." |
| Daniele: Quel. |
| Asia: Second, the noun, in this case "painting." |
| Daniele: quadro. |
| Asia: Third, the verb "to be", conjugated in the third person singular. |
| Daniele: è. |
| Asia: And last, an adjective, in this case "antique." |
| Daniele: antico. |
| Asia: Altogether we have.. |
| Daniele: Quel quadro è antico. [slow] Quel quadro è antico. [normal] Quel quadro è antico. |
| Asia: "That painting is antique." |
| [pause] |
| Daniele: Quel quadro è antico. |
| Asia: How do you say - "That sofa is comfortable"? To give you a hint, "comfortable" is.. |
| Daniele: comodo. [slow] comodo. [normal] comodo. |
| Asia: That sofa is comfortable |
| [pause] |
| Daniele: Quel divano è comodo [slow] Quel divano è comodo [normal] Quel divano è comodo |
| [pause] |
| Daniele: Quel divano è comodo |
| REVIEW |
| Asia: Let's review the sentences from this lesson. I will give you the English equivalent of the phrase and you are responsible for shouting it out loud in Italian. Here we go. |
| Asia: "That book is interesting." |
| [pause] |
| Daniele: Quel libro è interessante. |
| [pause] |
| Daniele: Quel libro è interessante. |
| Asia: "That painting is an antique." |
| [pause] |
| Daniele: Quel quadro è antico. |
| [pause] |
| Daniele: Quel quadro è antico. |
| Asia: "That sofa is comfortable" |
| [pause] |
| Daniele: Quel divano è comodo |
| [pause] |
| Daniele: Quel divano è comodo |
Outro |
|---|
| Asia: Okay. That's all for this lesson. You learned a pattern for describing something using an adjective, as in.. |
| Daniele: Quel libro è interessante. |
| Asia: meaning "That book is interesting." |
| Asia: You can find more vocab or phrases that go with this sentence pattern in the lesson notes. So please be sure to check them out on ItalianPod101.com. Thanks everyone, see you next time! |
| Daniele: A presto! |
13 Comments
HideTry describing what you have in front of you now.
Hi Juliana Cherry,
the literal translation of "mobile" is "piece of furniture". The specific word for "cupboard" would be "credenza". In Italian, you can say both "nel mobile" or "nella credenza". As in English it would sound awkward to say "in the piece of furniture", we opted for "cupboard".
Hope this makes more sense now!
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
Nel mobile. Does this really mean in the cupboard or is it an error
Grazie. Juliana
Hi Daniel,
thanks for your question.
1- Use quello before singular masculine words starting with Z, S+consonant, Y, PS. (quello zaino, quello studente, quello yogurt, quello psicologo)
2- Use quell' before singular masculine AND feminine words starting with a vowel (quell'orologio, quell'arancia)
3- Use quel before singular masculine words starting with a different consonant than those in point 1 (quel bambino, quel libro, quel cane)
Hope this helps!
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
What is the difference between Quel and Quello?
Ciao Dina T Campos,
you're right, thanks for pointing that out! We'll have the mistakes fixed as soon as possible.
A presto,
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
There is a mistake on “that: feminine plural, it says “questa” when it should be “quella”
And is picciono correct, or is it piacciono.?
Ciao Bill,
tutto perfetto! Ottimo lavoro 👍
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
Quel portatile è caro. Quella tazzina è grande. Quel telefono cellulare è antico.
Tutti é beni?
Grazie e ciao!
Ciao E,
molto bene, perfetto!
Let us know if you have any questions.
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
Quel telefono è piccolo.