Breakdown of Questi orologi digitali costano sempre meno.
questi
these (masculine)
l'orologio
the watch (m)
sempre
always
costare
to cost
Questions & Answers about Questi orologi digitali costano sempre meno.
How does sempre meno translate to "less and less"? Doesn't sempre mean "always"?
Yes, sempre on its own means "always". However, when paired with più (more) or meno (less), it describes an ongoing, progressive change. While it literally translates to "always less", the natural English equivalent is "less and less" or "increasingly less".
Why is it questi orologi instead of dropping the vowel to make quest'orologi?
In modern Italian, the plural demonstrative questi (these) does not drop its final vowel, even when the next word starts with a vowel. You only use the apostrophe in the singular (quest'orologio).
If I wanted to say "those watches", would it be quelli orologi?
No, it would be quegli orologi. Remember that while questo always becomes questi in the plural, quello changes its ending based on the definite article. Since "the watches" is gli orologi, "those watches" must be quegli orologi.