Learn Italian: Oggi queste macchine sono sempre meno popolari. - Today these cars are less and less popular.

In English, we express a progressive change by repeating the comparative word ("less and less", "more and more"). Italian does this by pairing sempre with the comparative word. So, "less and less" is sempre meno, and "more and more" is sempre più.

Does sempre still mean "always" in this sentence?

Literally, yes! The phrase translates word-for-word as "always less popular." However, in natural English, we translate this specific grammatical structure (sempre + comparative) as a continuous trend rather than a literal "always."

Since queste macchine is feminine plural, why doesn't the adjective popolari end in -e?

Adjectives that end in -e in the singular (like popolare) change their ending to -i in the plural for both masculine and feminine nouns. Since the singular is la macchina popolare, the plural becomes le macchine popolari.

If I wanted to say "those cars" instead of "these cars," how would that change queste?