quella

Quella is the feminine singular demonstrative determiner and pronoun in Italian, meaning that or that one when referring to a feminine noun or to a feminine subject previously mentioned. As a determiner it accompanies feminine singular nouns, as in quella casa or quella ragazza, and it agrees in gender and number with the noun it modifies. As a pronoun it can stand in for a feminine noun: quella è la mia, that one is mine.

Before nouns starting with a vowel, the form often contracts to quell’ (with an apostrophe): quell’idea, quell’acqua. This contraction applies to singular forms; for plural feminine nouns the form is usually quelle (that those), as in quelle case.

Quella belongs to a family of Italian demonstratives that vary by gender, number, and phonological context. The masculine equivalents are quel (before consonants) and quello (before certain consonant clusters or with a vowel-initial noun, e.g., quell’uomo), with plural forms quei and quelli. The feminine plural is quelle, which aligns with quella for feminine singular.

Usage notes: quale or quale? Not applicable here; quale is a separate interrogative. Quella is common in both speech and writing and can refer to objects, places, or persons when the noun is feminine. It can be used to distinguish a specific item from others, often in contrastive or deictic contexts, such as “Prendi quella” (Take that one) or “Quella casa è vecchia” (That house is old). Etymologically, quella derives from the demonstrative root quell- with a feminine ending, related to other Italian demonstratives from Latin illa.