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Lesson Transcript

Let's look at the sentence pattern.
This pattern is the structure that all of our examples will follow.
Quanto costa + questo/quello + NOUN?
"How much does + this/that + NOUN cost?"
Quanto means "how much?" and is an interrogative adverb.
Costa means "costs" and comes from the verb costare, which means "to cost."
Next are the demonstrative adjectives questo and quello, meaning "this" and "that."
To use this pattern, replace NOUN with the noun you want to ask about, ensuring agreement in gender and number.
Let's look at the demonstrative adjectives.
In Italian, the words for "this" and "that" change depending on whether the noun is masculine or feminine, singular or plural.
For a masculine singular noun, questo means "this," and quello means "that."
If the noun is feminine and singular, questa is used for "this," and quella for "that."
For plural nouns, the endings change.
Masculine plural nouns take questi for "these" and quei for "those."
Feminine plural nouns use queste for "these" and quelle for "those."
Apart from these four forms, there are other variants. So be sure to check the Lesson Notes on our website for all the variants.
Let's see how a line from the dialogue follows this pattern.
Scusi, quanto costa questo quadro?
"Excuse me, how much does this painting cost?"
In this sentence:
Scusi means "Excuse me" and isn't a part of the pattern.
Next is quanto costa, meaning "How much does it cost?"
Followed by questo, meaning "this," which refers to the item being asked about—in this example, quadro, a masculine singular noun meaning "painting."
So, the full sentence Scusi, quanto costa questo quadro? means, "Excuse me, how much does this painting cost?"
Now you can use this structure to ask about the price of anything when shopping in Italy!
In Italy, bargaining is not common, but you can try in some places.
Most stores have fixed prices, but you can sometimes negotiate at open-air markets, flea markets, and antique shops, especially if you buy more than one item.
Now let's look at some speaking examples.
Quanto costa questo libro?
"How much does this book cost?"
Can you see how the pattern applies here?
Let's break it down:
Quanto costa means "how much costs,"
followed by questo, meaning "this."
Finally, we have the masculine singular noun libro, meaning "book."
Notice that here, questo is used instead of quello because we are talking about "this" book.
So, that is how Quanto costa questo libro? follows the "Quanto costa + questo + NOUN?" pattern.
Here's another example
Quanto costa quello zaino?
"How much does that backpack cost?"
Quanto costa quello zaino?
"How much does that backpack cost?"
Let's try one more,
Quanto costa questo vestito?
"How much does this dress cost?"
Quanto costa questo vestito?
"How much does this dress cost?"
One last example.
Quanto costa quello scaffale?
"How much does that shelf cost?"
Quanto costa quello scaffale?
"How much does that shelf cost?"

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