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### The Indefinable "Something"

Have you ever tried to describe someone or something, but couldn't quite put your finger on what makes them so special? English uses phrases like "a certain something" or the French *je ne sais quoi*. In Italian, you can express this elusive quality using the phrase *un che di*.

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To use this structure, simply follow *un che di* with an adjective.

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### Adjective Agreement

Because *un che* literally translates to "a something" and acts as a masculine singular noun phrase, the adjective that follows *di* must **always be masculine singular**. 

This rule applies even if the person or thing you are describing is feminine or plural. Notice how a feminine subject like *la sua musica* (his music) is paired with the masculine adjectives *poetico* and *malinconico* because they modify *un che* rather than the subject directly.

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### Capturing Aura and Charisma

This structure is perfect for talking about people with unexplainable charm and places with a magical presence. You will often see it paired with vocabulary like *aura* (aura) and *carisma* (charisma), alongside evocative adjectives like *magnetico* (magnetic) and *fiabesco* (fairytale-like).

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Expressing undefinable qualities (un che di)

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
aura	l'aura
a certain something / an undefinable quality	un che di
indescribable	indescrivibile
This place has a special aura and a certain indescribable something.	Questo luogo ha un'aura speciale e un che di indescrivibile.
melancholic	malinconico
poetic	poetico
His smile always has a certain melancholic and poetic something.	Il suo sorriso ha sempre un che di malinconico e poetico.
charisma	il carisma
magnetic	magnetico
That actor has incredible charisma, a certain magnetic something.	Quell'attore ha un carisma incredibile, un che di magnetico.
to fascinate	affascinare
fairytale-like	fiabesco
This dark forest fascinates us and has a certain fairytale-like something.	Questo bosco buio ci affascina e ha un che di fiabesco.
elusive	sfuggente
That woman is elusive; she has a certain indescribable something.	Quella donna è sfuggente; ha un che di indescrivibile.
The princess has a magical aura, a certain magnetic something.	La principessa ha un'aura magica, un che di magnetico.
The professor's charisma continues to fascinate all the students.	Il carisma del professore continua ad affascinare tutti gli studenti.
His music has a certain poetic and melancholic something.	La sua musica ha un che di poetico e malinconico.
That ancient castle has a magical aura, a certain fairytale-like something.	Quell'antico castello ha un'aura magica, un che di fiabesco.
This man fascinates everyone with his mysterious charisma.	Quest'uomo affascina tutti con il suo carisma misterioso.
That actor has an elusive quality.	Quell'attore ha un che di sfuggente.