Lesson Transcript

Let's look at the sentence pattern.
This pattern is the structure that all of our examples will follow.
Questo or questa [noun] è molto [adjective].
"This [noun] is very [adjective]."
In Italian, when describing something, you can use the structure;
Questo or Questa followed by a noun, then è molto and an adjective.
In English this translates to "This" NOUN "is very" ADJECTIVE. The choice between Questo and Questa depends on the gender of the noun.
Let's see how a line from the dialogue follows this pattern.
Beh, questo computer è molto veloce.
"Well, this computer is very fast."
In this sentence:
Beh means "Well" and isn't a part of the pattern.
Questo means "this" and is a demonstrative adjective. It specifies which item is being talked about.
In the phrase questo computer "this computer," questo is used with "computer" because computer is a singular masculine noun in Italian, and demonstrative adjectives must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify.
If the noun is feminine and singular, questa is used for "this."
The word è is the third-person singular form of the verb essere, "to be" in the present tense. It means "is" in English.
Molto means "very" and is optional. It makes the adjective stronger.
All together è molto means "is very."
The last word in​​ this sentence is the adjective veloce, meaning "fast."
Veloce does not change in this sentence because it belongs to a category of adjectives that only change based on number, not gender.
So, the full sentence Beh, questo computer è molto veloce. means, "Well, this computer is very fast."
Now, you can use this structure to describe the qualities of things when you're speaking in Italian!
In Italian, some adjectives change based on both gender and number. Most adjectives ending in -o adjust for gender.
For example, bello, "pretty," is the masculine singular form, while the feminine singular form is bella.
For example: Questa ragazza è molto bella, which means, "This girl is very pretty."
Now let's look at some speaking examples.
Questa casa è molto vecchia.
"This house is very old."
Can you see how the pattern applies here?
Let's break it down:
Questa means "this,"
followed by casa, meaning "house."
è molto means "is very."
Finally, we have the adjective vecchia, meaning "old."
Notice that this sentence uses questa instead of questo and vecchia instead of vecchio because casa is a feminine singular noun.
So, that is how Questa casa è molto vecchia. follows the "Questo or questa [noun] è molto [adjective]." pattern.
Here's another example
Questo vestito è costoso.
"This dress is expensive."
Questo vestito è costoso.
"This dress is expensive."
Let's try one more,
Questa stanza è molto grande.
"This room is very big."
Questa stanza è molto grande.
"This room is very big."
One last example.
Questo cappello è nuovo.
"This hat is new."
Questo cappello è nuovo.
"This hat is new."

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