Learn Italian: Ci vado con il mio snowboard, e tu con quello di tuo fratello? - I go there with my snowboard, and you with your brother's?

In English, we use an apostrophe 's' to show possession without repeating the noun. Italian does not have an apostrophe 's'. Instead, we use a demonstrative pronoun like quello ('that one') followed by di ('of'). Literally, quello di tuo fratello translates to 'that of your brother'.

Why use quello instead of quella or quel?

The pronoun must match the gender and number of the noun it replaces. Since it replaces the masculine singular word snowboard, we use quello. We cannot use quel because quel is an adjective that must sit right next to a noun, while quello acts as a standalone pronoun here.

Why is it tuo fratello and not il tuo fratello?

Remember the family rule for possessives! You must drop the definite article (il, la, etc.) when using a possessive adjective with a singular, unmodified family member. That is why we say tuo fratello instead of il tuo fratello.

What is the Ci doing in Ci vado?