Cleft Sentences in Italian

Overview

A cleft sentence (frase scissa) splits a simple sentence into two parts in order to put focus on one particular element. The Italian cleft takes the form È + focused element + che + rest of the sentence: È Marco che ha telefonato (It's Marco who called). This structure answers an implicit question — "Who called?" — by placing the answer in the spotlight between è and che.

English uses cleft sentences too ("It's Marco who called"), so the concept is not entirely foreign. However, Italian deploys cleft constructions more broadly and with greater variety, including the pseudo-cleft (frase pseudoscissa): Quello che voglio è un caffè (What I want is a coffee). Both types are essential for managing focus and emphasis in Italian, a language where information structure plays a central role in communication.

At the C1 level, cleft sentences allow you to move beyond simple declarative statements and control exactly which piece of information receives emphasis. This is particularly valuable in argumentation, narration, and any context where you need to contrast, correct, or highlight specific elements.

How It Works

Standard Cleft (Frase scissa)

The basic formula is:

È/Era/Sarà + focused element + che + remainder

The verb essere agrees in tense with the original sentence, and che introduces the rest:

Original Sentence	Cleft Sentence	Focus
Marco ha telefonato.	È Marco che ha telefonato.	Who called? Marco.
Ho comprato il libro ieri.	È ieri che ho comprato il libro.	When? Yesterday.
Parlo con te.	È con te che parlo.	With whom? With you.
Piove a Milano.	È a Milano che piove.	Where? In Milan.

Focused Elements

Almost any sentence element can be focused:

Element	Example	Translation
Subject	È Maria che ha cucinato.	It's Maria who cooked.
Object	È la verità che voglio.	It's the truth that I want.
Adverb/Time	È domani che partiamo.	It's tomorrow that we leave.
Prepositional phrase	È per questo che sono arrabbiato.	It's for this reason that I'm angry.
Complement	È stanco che mi sento.	It's tired that I feel.

Tense Agreement

The verb essere in the cleft can change tense to match the context:

Tense	Example	Translation
Present	È Marco che parla.	It's Marco who's speaking.
Imperfect	Era Marco che parlava.	It was Marco who was speaking.
Passato prossimo	È stato Marco che ha parlato.	It was Marco who spoke.
Future	Sarà Marco che parlerà.	It will be Marco who'll speak.

Pseudo-Cleft (Frase pseudoscissa)

The pseudo-cleft uses a relative clause as subject and places the focus at the end:

Quello/Quella/Quelli che + verb + è/sono + focused element

Example	Translation	Focus
Quello che voglio è un caffè.	What I want is a coffee.	a coffee
Quello che mi preoccupa è il tempo.	What worries me is the time.	the time
Quello che serve è pazienza.	What's needed is patience.	patience
Quelli che hanno vinto sono loro.	The ones who won are them.	them

Inverted Pseudo-Cleft

The focus can also come first in a pseudo-cleft:

• Un caffè è quello che voglio. (A coffee is what I want.)

This variant is more emphatic and common in speech.

Negative and Interrogative Clefts

Type	Example	Translation
Negative	Non è Marco che ha telefonato.	It wasn't Marco who called.
Interrogative	È Marco che ha telefonato?	Is it Marco who called?
Negative focus	È nessuno che mi aiuta. → Non è nessuno...	Nobody helps me.

Examples in Context

Italian	English	Note
È Maria che ha preparato la cena.	It's Maria who prepared dinner.	Subject focus
È a Roma che voglio andare.	It's to Rome that I want to go.	Prepositional phrase focus
Era proprio questo che intendevo.	It was exactly this that I meant.	Imperfect, object focus
Sono io che ho sbagliato.	It's I who made the mistake.	First person subject
È per amore che lo fa.	It's for love that she does it.	Causal focus
Non è il denaro che conta.	It's not money that matters.	Negative cleft
Quello che mi serve è tempo.	What I need is time.	Pseudo-cleft
È qui che ci siamo conosciuti.	It's here that we met.	Place focus
Sarà la pioggia che ha rovinato tutto.	It must be the rain that ruined everything.	Future of probability
Quello che non capisco è perché.	What I don't understand is why.	Pseudo-cleft with interrogative
È solo con te che posso parlare.	It's only with you that I can talk.	Exclusive focus
Era Luigi che doveva venire, non Paolo.	It was Luigi who was supposed to come, not Paolo.	Contrastive focus

Common Mistakes

Omitting che in the cleft

• Wrong: È Marco ha telefonato.
• Right: È Marco che ha telefonato.
• Why: The connector che is required in Italian cleft sentences. Unlike some English constructions where "that" can be dropped, che cannot be omitted.

Wrong agreement with essere in pseudo-clefts

• Wrong: Quello che voglio sono un caffè.
• Right: Quello che voglio è un caffè.
• Why: When the focused element is singular, essere must be singular. Agreement follows the focused element (the predicate), not the relative clause.

Confusing cleft with simple emphasis

• Wrong: Thinking Marco ha telefonato with vocal stress is the same as a cleft.
• Right: È Marco che ha telefonato is grammatically distinct — it restructures the sentence.
• Why: While spoken stress can create emphasis, the cleft sentence provides a structural, unambiguous focus that works in both speech and writing.

Overusing clefts in writing

• Wrong: Writing every sentence as a cleft for emphasis.
• Right: Use clefts selectively to highlight key information.
• Why: Like any emphatic structure, clefts lose their force when overused. They work best in contrast, correction, or when answering an implicit question.

Usage Notes

Cleft sentences are used across all registers of Italian, from casual conversation to formal prose. In speech, they are often reinforced by intonation stress on the focused element. In writing, they are a powerful tool for organizing argument and directing the reader's attention.

The pseudo-cleft (quello che... è...) is particularly common in spoken Italian and in journalistic prose, where it creates a sense of building toward a revelation. It is somewhat less frequent in very formal academic writing, which tends to prefer other strategies for emphasis.

In southern Italian varieties, the cleft construction with è... che is sometimes extended to contexts where standard Italian might prefer a simple sentence with stress. This broader use of cleft sentences is a recognized feature of southern registers.

The construction è per questo che... (it's for this reason that...) is extremely frequent in argumentative discourse across all registers and regions.

Practice Tips

1. Practice converting simple sentences. Take any declarative sentence and create multiple cleft versions, each focusing a different element. For Marco ha comprato il libro ieri a Roma: focus Marco, the book, yesterday, and Rome as separate clefts.

2. Use clefts for correction. Practice the pattern of correcting wrong information: Non è lunedì che ci vediamo, è martedì. This is one of the most natural and frequent uses.

3. Pair clefts with pseudo-clefts. Express the same focus using both constructions: È pazienza che ci vuole and Quello che ci vuole è pazienza. Understanding the interchangeability builds flexibility.

Related Concepts

• Parent: Relative Pronouns — the che in cleft sentences functions as a relative pronoun
• Child: Marked Syntax — cleft sentences are part of the broader system of non-canonical word orders
• Related: Dislocations — another information-structuring strategy in Italian