Breakdown of Questi castelli sono grandi e famosi.
essere
to be
e
and
grande
big
questi
these (masculine)
il castello
the castle
famoso
famous
Questions & Answers about Questi castelli sono grandi e famosi.
Why do grandi and famosi both end in -i? Are they the same type of adjective?
They both end in -i to match the plural noun castelli, but they belong to different adjective groups! Famosi comes from famoso, which has four different endings based on gender and number (-o, -a, -i, -e). Grandi comes from grande, which belongs to a group of adjectives that end in -e in the singular and change to -i in the plural, regardless of whether the noun is masculine or feminine.
How do we know castelli is masculine?
Why is the word for "these" questi instead of questo or queste?
Questo means "this", but just like other adjectives, it has to match the noun it points to! Since castelli is masculine and plural, questo changes to its masculine plural form, questi ("these"). If we were talking about feminine plural nouns, we would use queste.
Do adjectives after the verb sono still have to match the noun?
Yes! Even though grandi and famosi come after the verb sono (are), they are describing the subject of the sentence, castelli (castles). In Italian, adjectives always have to match the gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) of the noun they describe, no matter where they are placed in the sentence.
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