Learn Italian: Questi ragazzi sono americani.

Questi ragazzi sono americani.

These boys are American.

Breakdown of Questi ragazzi sono americani.

Questions & Answers about Questi ragazzi sono americani.

Why do we use questi here instead of queste?

Questi is the masculine plural form of "this" (questo), meaning "these". Because ragazzi (boys) is masculine plural, we must use questi. If we were talking about girls (ragazze), we would use the feminine plural queste.

Does ragazzi only mean "boys"?

Not necessarily! While ragazzi means "boys", Italian uses the masculine plural for mixed groups. So questi ragazzi could mean a group of only boys, or a mixed group of boys and girls (often translated as "these guys" or "these kids").

Why does americani end in -i?

In Italian, adjectives must match the noun they describe. Because ragazzi is a masculine plural noun, the dictionary form of the adjective (americano) changes its ending to -i to become americani.

Why isn't the word for "American" capitalized here?

In English, we always capitalize nationalities, but Italian doesn't capitalize them when they are used as adjectives or to describe people. You generally only capitalize the actual name of the country, like l'America.