Questo aspetto non è ancora chiaro.

Because aspetto is a masculine singular noun, so the demonstrative has to match it.

• questo = this (masculine singular)
• questa = this (feminine singular)

Examples:

• questo libro = this book
• questa casa = this house

So:

• questo aspetto = this aspect

Here, aspetto means aspect, feature, or point of something.

It does not mean physical appearance in this sentence, even though aspetto can sometimes relate to appearance in other contexts.

A common source of confusion is that aspetto can also be the verb I wait:

• aspetto = I wait
• l'aspetto / questo aspetto = the aspect / this aspect

In this sentence, because it follows questo, it is clearly a noun.

In Italian, the normal way to make a sentence negative is to put non before the verb.

So:

• è chiaro = it is clear
• non è chiaro = it is not clear

You do not normally say è non chiaro in standard Italian for this meaning.

The accent distinguishes è from e.

• è = is
• e = and

So in your sentence:

• è is the verb essere = to be

This accent is very important in writing.

Here ancora means yet or still.

So:

• non è ancora chiaro = it is not clear yet / it is still not clear

Ancora can also mean again in other contexts, for example:

• Leggilo ancora. = Read it again.

In your sentence, because it appears with non è, the meaning is yet/still.

Because it naturally modifies the idea expressed by the verb phrase: is not yet clear.

The most normal order is:

• non è ancora chiaro

This is the standard and most natural phrasing.

You may sometimes hear different word order in speech or for emphasis, but for learners the safest model is:

• subject + non + verb + ancora + adjective

Because chiaro agrees with aspetto, which is masculine singular.

Agreement:

• aspetto → masculine singular
• chiaro → masculine singular adjective

Compare:

• Questo aspetto è chiaro.
• Questa situazione è chiara.

So the adjective must match the noun it describes.

Because questo already works as the determiner.

In English, this replaces the:

• this aspect, not the this aspect

The same happens in Italian:

• questo aspetto, not il questo aspetto

So questo is doing the job that an article would normally do.

Yes. That is a very natural English translation.

Italian:

• Questo aspetto non è ancora chiaro.

Possible English translations:

• This aspect is not clear yet.
• This aspect is still not clear.
• This aspect is still unclear.

All of these capture the same basic idea.

It is being used figuratively.

Chiaro literally means clear, but very often it means:

• understandable
• evident
• well explained
• settled

So in this sentence, non è ancora chiaro usually means something like:

• it has not been understood yet
• it has not been clarified yet
• it is not certain yet

That sounds unnatural in standard Italian.

The natural form is:

• Questo aspetto non è ancora chiaro.

Italian normally places non before the conjugated verb:

• non è

So even though English sometimes allows different emphasis patterns, Italian strongly prefers:

• non è ancora chiaro

A simple pronunciation guide is:

KWEH-stoh ah-SPEHT-toh non eh an-KOH-rah kee-AH-roh

A few useful points:

• questo: the qu sounds like kw
• aspetto: stress on -spet-
• è: pronounced like eh
• ancora: stress on -co-
• chiaro: chi here sounds like kee

So:

• Questo aspetto non è ancora chiaro.

No. Quest' is used before a vowel sound, but here aspetto begins with a, so you might think it should happen automatically. However, with questo/questa, the shortened form quest' is normally used only with the feminine singular before a vowel:

• quest'amica = this female friend

For masculine singular, you normally keep:

• questo aspetto

So the correct form here is:

• Questo aspetto

Yes, but mostly in somewhat formal or neutral contexts when talking about a particular side or dimension of an issue.

Examples:

• un aspetto importante = an important aspect
• un aspetto tecnico = a technical aspect
• questo aspetto del problema = this aspect of the problem

In very casual speech, Italians might sometimes use alternatives like:

• questa cosa
• questo punto
• questa parte

But aspetto is completely normal and very useful.