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### What You Want: Ciò che

To highlight a specific thing or idea, use a pseudo-cleft sentence. Start with **ciò che** (what / that which) and a verb phrase, followed by the verb **essere** (to be) and the thing you are emphasizing.

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### Using "Quello che"

**Quello che** means exactly the same thing as **ciò che** and is used in the identical structure. It is slightly more common in everyday spoken Italian.

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### Emphasizing People: Chi

When the focus is on a person rather than a thing, start with **chi** (the one who), followed by the action and **essere** to reveal their identity. 

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### Verb Agreement

If the emphasized noun at the end of a **quello che** or **ciò che** sentence is plural, the connecting verb **essere** must also be plural (**sono**).

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### Highlighting with "È... che"

You can also emphasize a noun by placing it between a conjugated form of **essere** and **che** (that). This translates to "It is [X] that..." and places the focus right at the front.

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When emphasizing a singular noun, **essere** remains singular.

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Emphasizing topics (chi / quello che)

adjective

adjective/adverb

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

preposition

pronoun

proper noun

sentence

verb

Subject pronouns and the verb to be (io sono)

Singular definite articles (il, la)

Singular demonstratives (questo, questa)

Basic verbal negation (non)

Yes/No questions

Coordinating conjunctions (e, ma, o)

Regular plurals and definite articles (-i, -e, i, le)

Plural verb to be (noi siamo, voi siete)

Plural demonstratives (questi, queste)

Nouns ending in -e

Special singular articles (lo, l')

The plural article (gli)

Special indefinite articles (uno, un')

Demonstrative adjectives (quello, quella)

Adjective endings (-o, -a, -i, -e)

Expressing quantity (molto, poco, tanto)

The verb to have (ho, hai, ha...)

There is / there are (c'è, ci sono)

The preposition of (di)

Singular possessives (il mio, la mia)

Numbers 1 to 10 (uno, due, tre...)

Numbers 11 to 20 (undici, dodici...)

Numbers 21 to 100 (trenta, quaranta...)

Idiomatic avere (avere fame, avere anni)

Plural possessive adjectives (i miei, le mie)

Possessives with family members (mio padre)

Formal address (dare del Lei)

Present tense of -are verbs (-o, -i, -a)

Question words (chi, cosa, dove)

Present tense of -ere verbs (-o, -i, -e)

Question words (quando, come, perché)

Question word agreement (quanto, quanta, quanti, quante)

Regular -ire verbs

Verbs with -isc- (capisco, capisci, capisce)

Pronouns after prepositions (me, te, lui)

The verb fare (faccio, fai, fa)

The verb andare (vado, vai, va)

The verb stare (sto, stai, sta)

The verb venire (vengo, vieni, viene)

The verb uscire (esco, esci, esce)

Location and destination (a, in)

Origin and movement (da)

Articulated prepositions with a (al, alla)

Articulated prepositions with in (nel, nella)

Articulated prepositions with di and da (del, dal)

Simple prepositions (con, per, su, tra)

Articulated prepositions with su (sul, sulla)

Months of the year

Telling time (sono le...)

Dates (il + number)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (primo, secondo, terzo...)

The verb to want (volere)

The verb can (potere)

The verb must (dovere)

The verb to know (sapere)

Reflexive verbs (mi lavo, ti lavi)

Indirect object pronouns (gli, le, ci...)

Expressing preferences (mi piace)

Plural preferences (mi piacciono)

Comparatives (più... di, meno... di)

The passato prossimo with avere (ho parlato)

Irregular past participles (fatto, letto, preso)

The passato prossimo with essere (sono andato)

Reflexive verbs in the past (mi sono svegliato)

Time adverbs with the past tense (già, mai, ancora)

Third-person direct object pronouns (lo, la, li, le)

First and second-person direct object pronouns (mi, ti, ci, vi)

The four seasons

Prepositions of place (vicino a, davanti a)

Conversational words (beh, allora, davvero)

Indefinite adjectives for some (qualche, alcuni)

Indefinite adjectives for every and all (ogni, tutti)

Indefinite pronouns (qualcosa, qualcuno)

Noun suffixes (-ino, -one)

Adverbs of manner (-mente)

Comparisons of equality (così... come)

The relative superlative (il più)

The absolute superlative (-issimo)

Irregular comparatives (migliore, peggiore)

Present progressive (stare + -ando, -endo)

Imminent actions (stare per)

The locative pronoun (ci)

The partitive pronoun (ne)

Pronoun placement with modal verbs

Impersonal subjects (si)

Prepositions of time (da, per, tra, fra)

Past participle agreement with pronouns

Question	Answer
dinner guest	il commensale
to appreciate/like	gradire
dish/course	la pietanza
tasty	gustoso
What every dinner guest appreciates is a tasty dish.	Ciò che ogni commensale gradisce è una pietanza gustosa.
elaborate	elaborato
It is this elaborate dish that I don't want to eat.	È questa pietanza elaborata che non voglio mangiare.
to satisfy	soddisfare
palate	il palato
appetizer/snack	lo stuzzichino
What satisfies my palate is a tasty snack.	Quello che soddisfa il mio palato è uno stuzzichino gustoso.
The dinner guest wants Marco to bring another snack.	Il commensale desidera che Marco porti un altro stuzzichino.
The one who cooked this elaborate roast is my sister.	Chi ha cucinato questo arrosto elaborato è mia sorella.
After having dinner, what I appreciate is a dessert.	Dopo aver cenato, quello che gradisco è un dolce.
leftover	l'avanzo
What nobody wants to eat are yesterday's leftovers.	Quello che nessuno vuole mangiare sono gli avanzi di ieri.
second helping	il bis
It is the second helping of meat that satisfies everyone.	È il bis di carne che soddisfa tutti.
What your palate desires is a second helping.	Ciò che desidera il tuo palato è un bis.
After finishing dinner, many leftovers always remain.	Dopo aver finito la cena, restano sempre molti avanzi.
The one who is not eating the dish is Luca.	Chi non mangia la pietanza è Luca.
It is this tasty snack that we want to taste.	È questo stuzzichino gustoso che vogliamo assaggiare.