Italian All-in-One For Dummies (26 page)

Dove?
(
doh
-veh?) (
Where?
)

Perché?
(pehr-
keh?
) (
Why?
)

Come?
(
koh
-meh?) (
How?
)

Che
,
cosa
, and
che cosa
are often used interchangeably.

Here are some sample questions, using these interrogative pronouns:

Chi è?
(kee eh?) (
Who is it/this?
)

Cosa stai facendo?
(
koh
-sah stahy fah-
chehn
-doh?) (
What are you doing?
)

Quando arrivi?
(
kwahn
-doh ahr-
ree
-vee?) (
When do you arrive?
)

Dov'è la stazione?
(doh-
veh
lah stah-
tsyoh
-neh?) (
Where is the station?
)

Perché non sei venuto?
(pehr-
keh
nohn sahy veh-
nooh
-toh?) (
Why didn't you come?
)

Come stai?
(
koh
-meh stahy?) (
How are you?
)

Come si dice “rain” in italiano?
(
koh
-meh see
dee
-cheh “rain” in ee-tah-lee-
ah
-noh?) (
How do you say “rain” in Italian?
)

Asking simple questions

When you ask a question using an interrogative pronoun, you don't need the interrogative pronoun in the response. For example:

Dov'è la Cappella Sistina?
(doh-
veh
lah kahp-
pehl
-lah sees-
tee
-nah?) (
Where is the Sistine Chapel?
)

La Cappella Sistina è a Roma.
(lah kahp-
pehl
-lah sees-
tee
-nah eh ah
roh
-mah.) (
The Sistine Chapel is in Rome.
)

Quante regioni ci sono in Italia?
(
kwahn
-teh reh-
joh
-nee chee
soh
-noh in ee-
tah
-lee-ah?) (
How many regions are there in Italy?
)

Ci sono 20 regioni.
(chee
soh
-noh vehn-tee reh-
joh
-nee.) (
There are 20 regions.
)

The interrogatives
dove
(
doh
-veh) (
where
) and
come
(
koh
-meh) (
how
) can be contracted with the verb
essere
(
ehs
-sehr-reh) (
to be
) in the third person singular. Note that the pronunciation and stress also change. Take a look at these interrogatives with third person singular and third person plural verbs.

Dov'è Mario.
(doh-
veh
mah
-ryoh?) (
Where's Mario?
)

Dove sono i ragazzi?
(
doh
-veh
soh
-noh ee rah-
gahts
-tsee?) (
Where are the boys?
)

Com'è quel ristorante?
(koh-
meh
kwehl rees-toh-
rahn-
teh?) (
How is that restaurant?
) (
What's that restaurant like?
)

Come sono gli gnocchi?
(
koh
-meh
soh
-noh lyee
nyohk
-kee?) (
How are the gnocchi?
)

Use
quale
(
kwah
-leh) (
what/which
) in the singular,
quali
(
kwah
-lee) in the plural, but
qual è
(kwahl-
eh
) when combined with the third person singular of
essere.
See these examples:

Quale
(
kwah
-leh):
Quale film vuoi vedere?
(
kwah
-leh feelm vwohi veh-
deh
-reh?) (
What/which film do you want to see?
)

Qual è
(kwahl-
eh
):
Qual è il mare più profondo in Italia?
(kwahl-
eh
il mah-reh pyooh proh-
fohn
-doh in ee-
tah-
lee-ah?) (
What is the deepest sea in Italy?
)

Quali
(
kwahl
-ee):
Quali amici hai invitato?
(
kwahl
-ee ah-
mee
-chee ahy in-vee-
tah
-toh?) (
Which friends did you invite?
)

Taking care of basic needs

Sometimes you just need to ask for something very basic but necessary. Here are a few phrases that will take you far:

Scusi, dov'è il bagno per favore?
(
skooh
-zee, doh-
veh
il bah-
nyoh
pehr fah-
voh
-reh?) (
Excuse me, where is the bathroom please?
) Some people get fancy and ask for
la toilette
with a Frenchified accent; however,
bagno
gets you where you need to go (no pun intended).

Scusi, dov'è la farmacia più vicina?
(
skooh
-zee, doh-
veh
lah fahr-mah-
chee
-ah pyooh vee-
chee
-nah?) (
Excuse me, where's the nearest pharmacy?
)