Learn Italian: Le mie mani sono fredde, ma quelle di Marco sono calde.

Le mie mani sono fredde, ma quelle di Marco sono calde.

My hands are cold, but Marco's are warm.

Breakdown of Le mie mani sono fredde, ma quelle di Marco sono calde.

Questions & Answers about Le mie mani sono fredde, ma quelle di Marco sono calde.

Why do we use quelle in this sentence instead of quelli?

The word quelle takes the place of the noun le mani (the hands) to avoid repeating it. Since mani is feminine plural, the demonstrative pronoun must also be feminine plural to match it. It literally translates as 'those of Marco'.

Wait, isn't mani a masculine word because it ends in -i?

It looks like a regular masculine plural, but it is an irregular noun. The singular is la mano (feminine), and the plural is le mani (still feminine). That is why all the connected words in this sentence like le, mie, fredde, quelle, and calde must take their feminine plural forms.

Why do we say quelle di Marco instead of using a possessive word for Marco?

Italian does not have a direct equivalent to the English apostrophe-s for possession. Instead, you always use the pattern of describing the item as being 'of' the person. To say 'Marco's' without repeating the word for hands, we use the pronoun quelle plus di, giving us quelle di Marco.

Why do the adjectives end in -e (fredde, calde)?