NOTES
(by DuoItalian)
Determiners are words that specify the denotation of a noun phrase. Similar to adjectives, they modify and clarify the noun. In Italian they agree in gender and number with the noun.
Common types of determiners include definite and indefinite articles (the, a, an), demonstratives (this, that), possessive determiners (my, their), quantifiers (many, few, several), numerals, distributive determiners (each, any), and interrogative determiners (which).
- Ci sono alcuni ragazzi nel parco. (There are some boys in the park.)
- Molte lingue sono difficili. (Many languages are hard.)
- I miei studenti parlano inglese. (My students speak English.)
Questo (this) and quello (that) are often utilized determiners and are therefore very important to properly understand. Questo is a four-form adjective and only changes its final letter. (* Note that before a vowel, questo and questa optionally contract to quest’.)
Singular | (this) | Plural | (these) |
il divano | questo divano | i divani | questi divani |
l’amico | questo amico* | gli amici |
questi amici |
lo squalo | questo squalo | gli squali | questi squali |
la stanza | questa stanza | le stanze | queste stanze |
l’ape | quest’ape* | le api | queste api |
While quello has the added feature of combining with the definite article of the proceeding noun.
Singular | (that) | Plural | (those) |
il divano | quel divano | i divani | quei divani |
l’amico | quell’amico | gli amici |
quegli amici |
lo squalo | quello squalo | gli squali | quegli squali |
la stanza | quella stanza | le stanze | quelle stanze |
l’ape | quell’ape | le api | quelle api |
It is very useful here to note that the previously covered adjective bello (beautiful) follows these same irregular patterns for some reason.
Singular | Plural |
bel divano | bei divani |
bell’amico | begli amici |
bello squalo | begli squali |
bella stanza | belle stanze |
bell’ape | belle api |
TIP: The terms qualsiasi and qualunque are synonyms (meaning “any”) and may be used in similar contexts, with the very slight difference that the former can imply a choice (i.e. whatever, whichever). Very loosely translated below:
- Dammi un libro qualunque. (Give me just any book.)
- Dammi un libro qualsiasi. (Give me whichever book you want to give me.)
VOCABULARY
(from Duolingo)
questi | these |
questo | this |
quelli | those |
quello | that |
ogni | every |
alcune | some, several |
alcuna | some, any |
qualche | some, few |
altro | other |
diverse | different |
nessuna | none |
certe | certain |
troppo | too many |
parecchio | quite a lot |
qualsiasi | any, whichever |
qualunque | any |
tutti | all, whole |
un altro | another |
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