Quel libro è interessante.

to be

Breakdown of Quel libro è interessante.

• il libro: the book
• interessante: interesting
• quel: that

Questions & Answers about Quel libro è interessante.

Why is quel used here instead of quello?

Italian has different forms for "that" depending on what follows. Quel is used before a consonant (except certain specific cases like s+consonant or z), whereas quello is often used before s+consonant or z (e.g., quello studente). Since libro begins with a consonant "l," we use quel libro.

Do we need to use an article like il before libro?

Not necessarily in this demonstrative construction. You can say il libro è interessante to simply say "The book is interesting," but with quel libro you're emphasizing "That book," so you don't need an extra article.

What form of the verb is è?

È is the third-person singular present tense of essere (to be). It literally translates to "is," as in "That book is interesting."

Why does the adjective interessante end with -e?

In Italian, some adjectives end with -e in their singular form and don't change whether the noun is masculine or feminine. Interessante is an example of these invariabile (unchanging) endings for the singular.

Can qui or qua be included for emphasis, like "that book over there"?

Yes, you can add words like laggiù (over there) if you want to be more specific about location. For instance, you could say Quel libro laggiù è interessante ("That book over there is interesting"). However, quel alone already indicates something at a distance, so it's usually enough.