Demonstrative Adjectives: questo, quello, stesso | Italian Grammar

This page covers the demonstrative adjectives of Italian — the words you put in front of a noun to point at it: questo (this / these), quello (that / those), and stesso (same / -self). Together, they handle the two great functions of demonstration: deixis (pointing in physical or conversational space) and identity (singling something out as the same as, or as itself, rather than another).

The two main demonstratives, questo and quello, divide the world the way English does: near the speaker vs far from the speaker. The crucial difference is that quello inflects in a much more elaborate pattern than English that — its forms shift according to the same phonotactic triggers that drive the definite article. Stesso is a separate creature: it does not point in space; it asserts identity. Once these three are in place, you can build any pointing or identifying noun phrase Italian needs.

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The single most important fact: quello before a noun does not behave like a four-form adjective. It behaves like the definite article — quel libro / quello studente / quell'amico / quei ragazzi / quegli zaini / quegli amici. If you already know il / lo / l' / i / gli, you already know quel / quello / quell' / quei / quegli. Same triggers, same shapes, same logic. Master the article and quello falls into place automatically.

1. Questo — the near-deictic

Questo indicates something near the speaker — physically near, temporally near, or near in the flow of conversation. It is a regular four-form adjective, with no special pre-nominal alternation.

	singular	plural
masculine	questo	questi
feminine	questa	queste

The four cells are filled by the four classic Italian endings: -o / -a / -i / -e. There is no special form before s+consonant or z: it is questo studente, questo zaino, questi studenti, questi zaini — exactly what the regular four-form pattern predicts.

Questo libro è interessante, ma quella rivista è noiosa.

This book is interesting, but that magazine is boring.

Questi pantaloni mi stanno larghi — devo provare una taglia in meno.

These pants are loose on me — I need to try a size smaller.

Queste scarpe le ho comprate a Firenze l'estate scorsa.

I bought these shoes in Florence last summer.

Questo spettacolo è il più bello che abbia mai visto.

This is the best show I've ever seen.

Optional elision before a vowel

Before a noun beginning with a vowel, questo and questa may elide to quest'. Both forms are heard and written; modern Italian leans toward keeping the full form, while older texts and more careful registers elide more often.

Form	Full	Elided
m.sg.	questo amico, questo uomo	quest'amico, quest'uomo
f.sg.	questa idea, questa amica	quest'idea, quest'amica
m.pl.	questi amici (no elision)	—
f.pl.	queste amiche (no elision)	—

The plural forms questi and queste never elide. Only the singular vowel-final forms have the option.

Quest'idea mi sembra ottima — la presentiamo al capo lunedì?

This idea seems excellent to me — shall we present it to the boss on Monday? (elided 'quest'idea')

Questo amico di mio fratello è simpaticissimo.

This friend of my brother's is really nice. (full form 'questo amico' — equally correct)

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For a learner, the safe default is always the full form: questo amico, questa idea. Elision is never required, and the full form is always grammatical. Native speakers will use whichever feels natural in the moment — but you will never be marked wrong for questo amico.

Temporal use

Questo extends naturally into time, marking the current week, year, century, or moment.

Questa settimana sono tornato a fare ginnastica tutti i giorni.

This week I've gone back to exercising every day.

In questo momento non posso parlare, ti richiamo tra dieci minuti.

I can't talk right now, I'll call you back in ten minutes.

Questo è stato l'anno più strano della mia vita.

This has been the strangest year of my life.

2. Quello — the far-deictic with article-like alternation

Quello indicates something far from the speaker. Unlike questo, its pre-nominal forms shift according to the first sound of the next word — exactly the pattern of the definite article. There are six distinct surface forms in the singular and plural combined.

The full pre-nominal paradigm

Phonotactic context (first sound of next word)	m. sg.	m. pl.	f. sg.	f. pl.
Most consonants (b, c, d, f, g, l, m, n, p, q, r, t, v)	quel	quei	quella	quelle
s + consonant, z, gn, x, y, ps, pn	quello	quegli	quella	quelle
Vowel	quell'	quegli	quell'	quelle

Compare with the definite article: il / i / la / le, lo / gli / la / le, l' / gli / l' / le. The shapes are systematically parallel: drop the initial qu- from each quello-form and you have el / ei / ella / elle, ello / egli / ella / elle, ell' / egli / ell' / elle — letter for letter, the same triggers and the same alternation as the article.

Quel libro sullo scaffale è il mio preferito.

That book on the shelf is my favorite. (consonant — 'quel libro')

Quello studente ha vinto la borsa di studio.

That student won the scholarship. (s+cons — 'quello studente')

Quell'amico di Marco ti ha cercato stamattina.

That friend of Marco's was looking for you this morning. (vowel — 'quell'amico')

Quei ragazzi giocano a calcio ogni domenica al parco.

Those boys play soccer every Sunday at the park. (cons. plural — 'quei ragazzi')

Quegli zaini sono troppo pesanti per i bambini.

Those backpacks are too heavy for the kids. (s+cons plural — 'quegli zaini')

Quegli amici di scuola li vedo ancora ogni tanto.

Those school friends I still see every now and then. (vowel plural — 'quegli amici')

Quella casa in cima alla collina è abbandonata da anni.

That house at the top of the hill has been abandoned for years. (f.sg. — 'quella casa')

Quell'idea l'avevo già avuta io, sai?

I'd already had that idea myself, you know? (f.sg. + vowel — 'quell'idea')

Quelle ragazze parlano sempre in francese tra di loro.

Those girls always speak French among themselves. (f.pl. — 'quelle ragazze')

Why the article-like alternation?

Latin had two related demonstratives that fed into modern Italian: iste (this) and ille (that). The Latin ille gave Italian both the definite article (il, lo, la) and the demonstrative quello (from Vulgar Latin eccu(m) + ille — "behold that one"). They are etymological siblings, which is why they share the phonotactic alternation. Quello is, in a real sense, a stronger and more explicit version of the definite article — both descend from the same Latin word, and they distribute over the same phonotactic landscape.

This insight reorganizes the memory load. You are not learning a separate paradigm; you are applying the article rule to a related family member.

Temporal and conversational quello

Quello extends to time and discourse just as questo does, but pointing away — to the past or to something already mentioned.

In quegli anni vivevamo tutti insieme in una casa di campagna.

In those years we all lived together in a country house.

Quel giorno pioveva a dirotto e nessuno voleva uscire.

That day it was pouring rain and nobody wanted to go out.

Quella volta che siamo andati a Venezia, te la ricordi?

That time we went to Venice, do you remember it?

3. Codesto — the archaic third

Italian historically had a three-way demonstrative system: questo (near speaker), codesto (near listener), quello (far from both). The middle term codesto survives only in literary, legal, and Tuscan-dialect contexts. In modern everyday speech it has been completely absorbed into quello.

System	Near speaker	Near listener	Far from both
Latin / archaic Italian	questo	codesto	quello
Modern Italian	questo	(absorbed into quello)	quello
Tuscan / legal Italian	questo	codesto	quello

You will encounter codesto in old novels (Manzoni, Boccaccio), in legal documents (codesto tribunale — "your tribunal", addressing a court), and in some Tuscan speech. Do not produce it in modern conversation — it sounds strikingly archaic, like English yon or thither.

Codesto libro che tu reggi tra le mani fu scritto da mio nonno.

That book you are holding in your hands was written by my grandfather. (literary/archaic — modern Italian would say 'quel libro')

La presente istanza viene rivolta a codesto Tribunale.

The present petition is addressed to your Tribunal. (formal/legal — survives in legal Italian)

4. Stesso — same, very, -self

Stesso is a different beast from questo and quello. It does not point in space; it asserts identity. It says: this is the same as something else, or this is the very thing in question, or this is the entity itself acting on itself.

It is a normal four-form adjective: stesso / stessa / stessi / stesse.

	singular	plural
masculine	stesso	stessi
feminine	stessa	stesse

The position rule: meaning shifts by where you put it

Stesso is one of the most striking examples in Italian of an adjective whose meaning depends on its position relative to the noun.

Position	Meaning	Example
BEFORE noun (with article)	"the same as something else"	lo stesso libro = the same book (as the one we mentioned)
AFTER noun	"the very, itself"	il libro stesso = the book itself (the very book in question)

This is a real semantic distinction, not a stylistic choice. Pre-nominal stesso asserts equality; post-nominal stesso asserts emphatic identity.

Abbiamo letto lo stesso libro al liceo, ti ricordi?

We read the same book in high school, remember? (pre-nominal: same as a previous one)

Il libro stesso lo dice nella prefazione.

The book itself says so in the preface. (post-nominal: the very book, emphatic)

Mio fratello e io abbiamo gli stessi gusti in fatto di musica.

My brother and I have the same taste in music. (pre-nominal: shared identity)

L'autore stesso ha ammesso di essersi sbagliato.

The author himself admitted he was wrong. (post-nominal: emphatic 'the author himself')

Reflexive emphasis: me stesso, te stesso, sé stesso

Combined with a tonic pronoun, stesso produces emphatic reflexive constructions — "myself, yourself, himself, herself, themselves" in their stressed, contrastive sense.

Tonic pronoun + stesso	Meaning
me stesso / me stessa	myself
te stesso / te stessa	yourself
sé stesso / sé stessa	himself / herself / itself / oneself
noi stessi / noi stesse	ourselves
voi stessi / voi stesse	yourselves
sé stessi / sé stesse	themselves

These are emphatic reflexives — used after prepositions, or for contrastive emphasis. The plain reflexive clitics (mi, ti, si, ci, vi) do everyday reflexive work; me stesso and friends are reserved for emphasis.

Devo essere onesto con me stesso e ammettere che ho sbagliato.

I have to be honest with myself and admit I was wrong.

Pensa solo a sé stesso, non si preoccupa mai degli altri.

He only thinks about himself, he never worries about others.

Dovete avere fiducia in voi stessi prima di tutto.

You must have confidence in yourselves above all.

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The accent on sé (acute, like né and ché) is the standard modern spelling. Both sé stesso and se stesso are accepted by the Accademia della Crusca, but the accented form removes ambiguity with the conjunction se ("if"). The accented form is the safer written choice.

5. The big picture: deixis vs identity

Italian's three demonstratives partition the conceptual space cleanly:

Function	Demonstrative	What it asserts
Pointing — near speaker	questo	"This one, near me, present in our shared space"
Pointing — far from speaker	quello	"That one, distant from us, removed in space, time, or thought"
Identifying — sameness	(lo) stesso (libro)	"The same one, identical to another"
Identifying — emphasis	(il libro) stesso	"The very one, this exact thing, no other"

Once you see the partition, the choice becomes mechanical: do I want to point (questo / quello, with location relative to speaker) or do I want to assert identity (stesso, with position controlling whether sameness or emphasis is meant)?

6. How Italian compares to English

English has this / that / these / those — a clean four-cell deictic system that does not inflect for gender. Italian inflects for gender, and the quello paradigm has six pre-nominal forms instead of two. This is a real load increase.

For stesso, English splits the work between two words: same (pre-nominal, equality: "the same book") and -self / itself (post-nominal, emphasis: "the book itself", "the man himself"). Italian uses one word, stesso, with position controlling which sense surfaces. The Italian system is more economical at the lexical level but requires a sensitivity to position that English speakers must consciously develop.

Hanno letto lo stesso romanzo, ma ne hanno tratto conclusioni opposte.

They read the same novel but drew opposite conclusions from it. (pre-nominal: 'lo stesso romanzo' = same as each other's)

Il romanzo stesso non spiega chi sia il vero colpevole.

The novel itself doesn't explain who the real culprit is. (post-nominal: 'il romanzo stesso' = the novel itself)

7. Common mistakes

❌ Quello libro è interessante.

Incorrect — before a consonant, masculine singular 'quello' shortens to 'quel'.

✅ Quel libro è interessante.

That book is interesting.

❌ Quel studente ha avuto un voto altissimo.

Incorrect — before s+consonant, the form is 'quello' (mirroring article 'lo studente').

✅ Quello studente ha avuto un voto altissimo.

That student got a very high grade.

❌ Quei amici di Marco li ho conosciuti ieri.

Incorrect — before a vowel in the masculine plural, the form is 'quegli' (mirroring article 'gli amici').

✅ Quegli amici di Marco li ho conosciuti ieri.

I met those friends of Marco's yesterday.

❌ Questo idea mi piace molto.

Incorrect — 'idea' is feminine, so the form must be 'questa' (or elided 'quest'idea').

✅ Questa idea mi piace molto.

I really like this idea. (also correct: 'Quest'idea mi piace molto.')

❌ Devo pensare di me stesso prima.

Incorrect preposition — 'pensare' takes 'a', not 'di', when it means 'think about'. (Also note: 'me stesso' is correct here, but the preposition is the problem.)

✅ Devo pensare a me stesso prima.

I need to think about myself first.

❌ Mio fratello e io abbiamo le stesse opinioni politici.

Incorrect agreement — 'opinioni' is feminine plural, so the adjective 'politici' must agree as 'politiche'.

✅ Mio fratello e io abbiamo le stesse opinioni politiche.

My brother and I have the same political opinions.

❌ In quel anni vivevo a Roma.

Incorrect — 'anni' is masculine plural beginning with a vowel; the demonstrative is 'quegli', not 'quel'.

✅ In quegli anni vivevo a Roma.

In those years I was living in Rome.

Key takeaways

Italian's demonstrative adjectives split into two tasks. Questo (this) and quello (that) handle deixis — pointing in space, time, or discourse — with questo signaling near and quello signaling far. Stesso (same / itself) handles identity — asserting that something is the same as another thing or the very thing under discussion.

The hardest piece is quello's pre-nominal alternation: quel / quello / quell' / quei / quegli, plus feminine quella / quell' / quelle. These six forms are not arbitrary — they are exactly the definite article shifted by qu-. Master the article system and quello becomes free.

Stesso deserves attention because its position controls its meaning: pre-nominal lo stesso libro means "the same book"; post-nominal il libro stesso means "the book itself". The two senses are distinct and not interchangeable — a real lexical fact, not a register choice.

The archaic codesto is a recognition target only. You will see it in old literature and legal Italian, but never in modern speech. Questo and quello divide the deictic space cleanly between them; codesto has been retired.

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