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Questions & Answers about Quelle finestre sono pulite.
What part of speech is quelle here and why does it have that form?
Quelle is the feminine plural demonstrative adjective (from quello). Demonstrative adjectives in Italian must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. Since finestre is feminine plural, you use quelle (“those”).
Why does finestre end with –e instead of –a?
The singular noun finestra (window) is feminine and ends in –a. In Italian, most feminine nouns ending in –a form the plural by replacing –a with –e. Hence finestra → finestre.
Why is sono used here instead of another verb like stanno?
Sono is the third-person plural present of essere (to be), which you use to link a subject with an adjective describing a state or quality. Stare (e.g. stanno pulite) isn’t normally used for a simple stative description like “are clean.”
Why does pulite end with –e?
Pulito is an adjective meaning “clean.” Italian adjectives agree in gender and number with the nouns they describe. For a feminine plural noun like finestre, pulito becomes pulite.
Could pulite here be a past participle forming a passive voice instead of just an adjective?
Yes, formally it’s the past participle of pulire (“to clean”) after essere, so sono pulite could be interpreted as passive (“they are cleaned”). In most contexts, though, it’s read as an adjective (“they are clean”). A full perfect-passive would be sono state pulite (“they have been cleaned”).
What’s the difference between quelle and queste?
Both are feminine plural demonstratives. Queste comes from questo and means “these” (things close to the speaker). Quelle comes from quello and means “those” (things farther away).
Can you drop quelle or replace it with le and still make sense?
Yes. You could say Le finestre sono pulite (“The windows are clean”) using the definite article le. Or as a pronoun: Quelle sono pulite (“Those ones are clean”). Context tells the listener which form you need.
What’s the difference between sono pulite and sono state pulite?
Sono pulite states a current condition: “They are clean.”
Sono state pulite is the passato prossimo passive: “They have been cleaned,” explicitly focusing on the action that was done.
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