Breakdown of Quel quartiere è il più brutto e il più sporco.
essere
to be
e
and
quello
that
più
more / anymore (with 'non')
il quartiere
the neighborhood
brutto
ugly / bad (appearance, situation)
sporco
dirty
Questions & Answers about Quel quartiere è il più brutto e il più sporco.
How does the "the ugliest" translation work here with il più brutto?
To make a relative superlative like "the ugliest" or "the most beautiful" in Italian, you combine the definite article (il, la, i, le), the word più (more), and the adjective. Since quartiere is masculine singular, we use il più brutto (literally "the more ugly").
Do I have to repeat the word il before più sporco? In English we just say "the ugliest and dirtiest".
Yes, in Italian it is much more common and natural to repeat the definite article for each superlative adjective in a list. So you say il più brutto e il più sporco (literally "the most ugly and the most dirty").
Why do brutto and sporco end in -o if quartiere ends in -e?
Quartiere is a masculine singular noun. While many masculine nouns end in -o, a smaller group ends in -e. Because the noun is masculine singular, any regular adjectives describing it must take the standard masculine singular ending -o.
Why is the word for "that" quel instead of quello?
The demonstrative adjective quello changes its shape depending on the noun that follows it, following the exact same rules as the word "the" (definite articles). Because quartiere would take the article il (masculine, starting with a regular consonant), quello shortens to quel.
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