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Questo cappotto è più lungo del vestito.

Questo cappotto è più lungo del vestito.
This coat is longer than the dress.
From Lesson 67:Comparatives (più... di, meno... di)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Questo cappotto è più lungo del vestito.

The lesson says 'more than' is più ... di, so why is there a del in this sentence?
When you compare nouns, you usually still need their definite articles. 'The dress' is il vestito. In Italian, the preposition di (than) combines with the article il to make the combined word del. So, più lungo del vestito literally means 'more long of-the dress'.
Does the adjective lungo (long) change endings to match the coat or the dress?
It always matches the first item being described, which is the subject of the sentence. Since cappotto (coat) is masculine and singular, we use the masculine singular ending -o to make lungo. If the first item were a feminine word like gonna (skirt), it would be più lunga.
What if we were comparing the coat to a feminine word, like 'the skirt' (la gonna)?
You would need to combine di with the feminine article la. Because di + la becomes della, the sentence would end with ... più lungo della gonna.
Why does the sentence use Questo and not Questa?
Questo means 'this'. It is a pointing word that has to match the gender and number of the noun it is attached to. Because cappotto is a masculine singular noun, we use the masculine singular form Questo.

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