Breakdown of Quell'attore ha un che di sfuggente.
quello
that
avere
to have
l'attore
the actor (m)
un che di
a certain something / an undefinable quality
Questions & Answers about Quell'attore ha un che di sfuggente.
How does the phrase un che di work to mean a 'quality' here?
Why do we need the preposition di before the adjective sfuggente?
In Italian, when indefinite pronouns like qualcosa or niente, or a nominalized phrase like un che, are modified by an adjective, they require the preposition di to link them. You can think of it literally as 'a certain something of elusive'.
If the subject were a female actress, would the adjective after un che di change to feminine?
No. The adjective following un che di must always be masculine singular because it modifies the masculine noun phrase un che, not the subject of the sentence. Even if the adjective had a standard -o ending, like misterioso, it would stay masculine singular for an actress: Quell'attrice ha un che di misterioso.
What type of word is sfuggente?
It is an adjective derived from the present participle of the verb sfuggire (to escape or slip away). While present participles are rarely used as verbs in modern Italian, many survive as adjectives. Here, it perfectly describes a trait that 'slips away' from being easily defined.