"È vero, ma non è quello il punto."

Translation: It is true, but that is not the point.

[Koolkaren]

Could you also say "... ma quello non è il punto." ? If both are possible, is the given word order the more usual? I only ask because English is my first language, so the given order is trickier for me.

[mukkapazza]

That's also another possibility. Here's a pattern you may have noticed by now... Remember guido io instead of io guido? Weird word orders usually mean the speaker is emphasizing something.

[grege2]

Great point. This sentence could mean "true, but that is not the point, this is the point, ie. special emphasis on the that. Just as guido io can mean I'm driving, not you.

[Koolkaren]

Thanks! :)

[cadal99]

So checking in here - why is this "quello" and not "quel" - probably should know this, but such as: http://iltavoloitaliano.com/Exercise_That_In_Italian/ says "quello" is for the "lo" with s/z nouns... without any context here... Of course all that I was doing in my version of this question was writing down what I heard, so I understood the meaning, but trying to figure out if "non e quel il punto" would work or why not... Thanks!

[brianhb]

quello, quella, quelli, quelle are demonstrative pronouns, i.e. words standing for a noun that you are pointing out, eg. quello è un bel fiore. (that is a beautiful flower)
quel (before masc. noun beginning with a consonant), quell' (before mas or fem noun beginning with a vowel or h), quello (before a masc noun beginning with a z or s impure), quei (before masc plural nouns beginning with a consonant), quegli (before masc plural nouns beginning with a vowel, h, z or s impure), quella (before singular fem nouns), quelle (before fem plural nouns) are all demonstrative adjectives and precede a noun.

[lapcondon]

I wrote "It's true, but that is not the point," and got it marked wrong???

[Koolkaren]

I hope you reported it because, obviously, yours is a great translation. It usually accepts contractions like "it's", so this must just be an oversight. :)

[lapcondon]

Thanks, Karen. I did report it.

[SusieOpperia]

I understand they're trying to say . . . but THAT is not the point. Oh, I think I just answered my own question. If "guido io" is I drive, emphasizing the I, then putting quello after the verb gives it emphasis, right?

[German4me22]

When using Quello , translate it as 'That one' Quelli becomes 'Those ones'. That one is not the point!

[BrucePlumb]

English could say "this is not the point" but using "that" is much more common. It is interesting that Google translates "that's not the point" to "questo non è il punto". So is this sentence another example of DL being too literal? Does the normal Italian expression use "questo"?