Breakdown of Quel cane è grosso e forte.
essere
to be
e
and
il cane
the dog
quello
that
forte
strong
grosso
big, bulky, thick
Questions & Answers about Quel cane è grosso e forte.
Why does the sentence use quel instead of quello?
The word for that changes depending on the noun it describes, similar to how we choose between the definite articles il, lo, or la. Because cane is a masculine word that takes the article il (il cane), the matching form for that is quel (quel cane). You would use quello before words that use lo, like quello specchio (that mirror).
Could I use grande instead of grosso to mean big?
Why does grosso end in -o but forte ends in -e?
Italian adjectives usually fall into two main categories. Grosso belongs to the first category, which ends in -o for masculine singular nouns like cane. Forte belongs to the second category, which contains adjectives that always end in -e in the singular, regardless of whether the noun they describe is masculine or feminine.
Since we are learning comparatives, how would I say 'That dog is bigger and stronger'?
Italian doesn't use suffixes like '-er' for comparisons. Instead, you put più (more) before the adjectives. You would say Quel cane è più grosso e più forte (literally: That dog is more big and more strong). If you wanted to compare it to another animal, you would use di (than), for example: più grosso di un gatto (bigger than a cat).
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