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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