NOTES
(by DuoItalian)
One way to ask questions in Italian is to add a question mark to the end of the sentence (in writing) and to raise the pitch of the voice at the end of the sentence. The English helping verb “do” is not translated.
- Hai una bella casa. (You have a beautiful house.)
- Hai una bella casa? (Do you have a beautiful house?)
The subject (noun or pronoun) in a question can stay at the beginning of the sentence, come before the verb, or move to the end of the sentence.
- Luisa ha la macchina? (Does Luisa have a car?)
- Ha una macchina Luisa? (Does Luisa have a car?)
The Italian word perché can be used as the adverb “why” and also as the conjunction “because”.
- Perché bevi l’acqua? (Why do you drink water?)
- Perché ho sete. (Because I am thirsty.)
Similarly, the Italian word come has multiple meanings, the most common being “how” and “like” (as, such as, as well as, etc.).
- Come stai oggi? (How are you today?)
- Sono freddo come ghiaccio. (I am cold as ice.)
Quale (which) implies a choice and only has three forms (singular, plural, before è) as such:
- Quale bambino è il tuo? (Which child is yours?)
- Quali lezioni hai capito? (Which lessons do you understand?)
- Qual è la migliore scuola? (Which is the best school?)
TIP: Che and cosa are abbreviated forms of che cosa (meaning “what”) and both have additional uses learned in later lessons.
VOCABULARY
(from Duolingo)
risposta | answer |
come | how, like |
domanda | question |
cosa | what |
quando | when |
dove | where |
quale | which |
chi | who |
perché | why, because |
quanto | how much |
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