FastItalian Learning
Cleft Sentences — Frasi Scisse·Italian Cleft vs. English 'it is...that/who'
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Rule reminder

Italian cleft sentences (frasi scisse) correspond directly to English 'it is/was...that/who' structures. Italian: 'È Marco che ha vinto' = English: 'It is Marco who won.' Key differences: Italian 'che' covers both 'that' and 'who'; Italian clefts are more flexible with tense; Italian uses 'chi' (not 'che') when asking who in cleft questions. Pseudo-clefts: 'Quello che voglio è riposo' = 'What I want is rest.'

Italian Cleft vs. English 'it is...that/who'1 / 10

The English sentence 'It is YOU who should apologize' uses capitals for stress. How is this stress achieved in Italian?

More in this section

→ Cleft Sentences in Formal and Journalistic Italian→ Quello che / Ciò che — Advanced Pseudo-Cleft→ Extended Pseudo-Clefts: la cosa che, l'unico che, il motivo per cui→ Word Order Emphasis — Alternatives to Cleft Sentences
📝 Take the Section 3 Mini-Exam← Back to Cleft Sentences — Frasi Scisse