Quella è la tua matita?

Sentence Discussions Italian
#1
English Translation

Is that your pencil?

According to the explanation that comes with this sentence: “However, for a question in Italian, it’s common to invert the subject and the verb, so the verb comes first (“È quella la tua matita?”) to indicate that it is a question.” But everything else I’ve read says that it is NOT common to form a question by inverting the subject and verb. What the real deal?

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#2

Our club madrelingua explains: 1. “Quella è *la tua matita?” = I see a pencil, I know you own one so I ask if it’s yours. (I might even ask if i could borrow it).

  1. “È *quella la tua matita?” = I see a pencil, I know you’ve lost one so I ask if the one I’m pointing at is the one you lost.

So as I see it the *emphasis is more on “your pencil” in 1. and on “that” in 2.

Hope this helps.

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