How to Ask Questions in Italian

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A question requests information. Italian yes–no questions can keep the same words as a statement and use intonation, or a question mark in writing. Questions asking who, where or why also use interrogative words.

In this lesson, we will show you how to ask questions in Italian. Ready? Let’s get right into it!

The Italian interrogative clauses

For a yes–no question, the statement’s wording can stay unchanged. Use a question mark in writing and an interrogative intonation when speaking:

Look at the following examples:

Alessio è nato a settembre	Alessio was born in September
Alessio è nato a settembre?	Was Alessio born in September?

Here the words and their order stay the same. Intonation distinguishes the spoken question from the statement; the written question has a question mark.

Question intonation varies by question type and regional variety. Many yes–no questions have a rise, but not every Italian question ends with rising pitch.

Italian does not require English-style subject–auxiliary inversion for a yes–no question. The subject can follow the verb, be placed earlier for emphasis, or be omitted when understood:

Gli studenti si comportano bene	The students are well behaved
Gli studenti si comportano bene? / Si comportano bene gli studenti?	Are the students well behaved?

Different kinds of interrogative clauses in Italian

Questions can be classified by their form and their purpose. The examples below include yes–no, alternative and rhetorical questions. Open questions with interrogative words, such as Dove abiti?, ask for information rather than a yes–no answer.

 1. Simple interrogative clauses, which are supposed to have a specific answer. Polar questions, also called yes–no questions, are designed to have a sì (yes) or a no (no) as an answer.

Parla inglese?	Do you speak English?
Sei felice?	Are you happy?
Sei uscito ieri sera?	Did you go out last night?

 2. Alternative questions, which give a choice of two or more answers.

Preferisci il panettone o il pandoro?	Do you prefer panettone or pandoro?
Veronica lavora in centro o in periferia?	Does Veronica work in the city center or on the outskirts?

 3. Rhetorical questions, which are posed only to make a point and are not supposed to be answered.

Non sembra anche a te che oggi sia una splendida giornata?	Doesn’t it seem to you that today is a wonderful day?

Italian question words

To ask questions that require more than a yes or no answer, you generally have to use question words, a key piece of figuring out any language. The following are common Italian question words which never change their form:

Dove?	Where?
Come?	How?
Quando?	When?
Perché?	Why?
Chi?	Who?/Whom?
Che cosa?	What?

The following are question words which do sometimes change their form:

Quale(-i)?	Which?
Quanti(-e)?	How many?
Quanto(-a)?	How much?

In ordinary English information questions, the interrogative expression normally comes first, though echo questions such as “You went where?” are possible. Italian interrogatives also often come first, but a topic can precede them:

If you want to emphasize what you are asking about, you can put a pronoun or a noun first. 

Here are some examples:

Tu chi sei?	Who are you?
Lei cosa ne pensa, dottoressa Mellini?	What do you think, Dr. Mellini?
Martina e Ilaria dove pensano di andare a quest’ora?	Where do Martina and Ilaria think they are going at this time?

Prepositions such as “di”, “con”, and “a” always precede the question words. Unlike in English, a question never ends with a preposition in Italian.

Di dove sei?	Where are you from?
Con chi parlavi?	Who were you talking to?
A che cosa serve?	What’s it for?
Di chi è questa borsa?	Whose bag is this?

Italian interrogatives

Italian question words, also known as interrogatives, are pretty similar to English. Here is a list.

Chi? (who?/whom?)

Pronounced /kee/, chi means “who”, is invariable and refers only to people, either singular or plural. Here are some examples:

Chi parla?	Who is speaking?
Chi è quella ragazza?	Who’s that girl?
Vado al supermercato. Chi vuole venire con me?	I’m going to the supermarket. Who wants to come with me?

Cosa? / Che? / Che cosa? (what?)

Che cosa, cosa and che can all mean “what” as pronouns. Standard pronunciation: che /ke/, cosa /ˈkɔza/. Their frequency varies by speaker and region.

As interrogative pronouns, these forms do not change for gender or number. Before a noun, use adjectival che: che giorno?, che ore?. Cosa cannot replace che in every construction.

Here are some sample sentences:

Che cosa ha detto?	What did he/she say? (or formal: What did you say?)
Scusi, che ore sono?	Excuse me, what time is it?
Che giorno è oggi?	What day is it today?
Cosa vuoi?	What do you want?

Before forms of essere, cosa commonly elides: cos’è, cos’era, che cos’è. The apostrophe marks the omitted final a.

Che cos’era che mi dovevi dire?	What was it that you had to tell me?
Cos’è questo?	What is this?

Quando? (when?)

Quando /ˈkwando/ means “when” and asks about times or dates.

Quando andiamo in vacanza?	When are we going on holiday?
Quando parte l’aereo?	When is the plane leaving?
Quando vai in Giappone?	When are you going to Japan?

Dove? (where?)

Dove /ˈdove/ means “where.” Before forms of essere, elision is common: dov’è, dov’era. It is not an instruction to elide before every vowel-initial word.

Dove abiti?	Where do you live?
Dove vai?	Where are you going?
Dov’è la stazione?	Where is the train station?
Dov’eri quando ti ho telefonato?	Where were you when I called you?

Perché? (why?)

Perché /perˈke/ means either “why” or “because.” Its role in the sentence and the context identify the meaning. Stress the last syllable.

Here are some examples which use perché to mean “why”:

Perché sei qui?	Why are you here?
Perché non sei andato a scuola?	Why didn’t you go to school?
Perché non me l’hai detto?	Why didn’t you tell me?
Perché non vieni?	Why don’t you come?

Here are some examples of perché used to mean “because”:

Oggi sono di buon umore perché c’è il sole	I am in a good mood today because it’s a sunny day
Lucrezia non è venuta al cinema perché aveva già visto quel film	Lucrezia didn’t come to the cinema because she had already seen that movie

Come mai? means “how come?” and can sound curious or less direct. Perché? is also an ordinary neutral “why?”; neither expression automatically demands a justification or guarantees a longer answer. Tone and context matter.

Come? (how?)

Come /ˈkome/ means “how” and asks about manner, condition or characteristics.

You might be familiar with it from the famous Italian greeting “come stai?”, which translates as “how are you?”.

Come lo sai?	How do you know?
Come si fa?	How do you do it?

Just like cosa and dove, come can be shortened to com’ when it is followed by a vowel.

Com’è il tempo?	How’s the weather?
Com’era Giulia da bambina?	What was Giulia like as a child?

Quale? (which?)

Quale /ˈkwale/ means “which” or “what.” It agrees in number, not gender: quale libro, quale casa; plural quali libri, quali case.

You use quale with singular nouns to ask “which” or “what”.

Quale abito preferisci?	Which dress do you prefer?
Su quale icona devo cliccare?	Which icon should I click on?
Per quale motivo?	For what reason?

If the following word is è (is) or era (was), use qual without adding the apostrophe.

Qual è l’autobus per il centro?	Which is the bus to downtown?
Qual è la tua più grande qualità?	What’s your greatest quality?

Quale has a plural form: quali. Use quali with plural nouns.

Quali sono i tuoi hobby?	Which are your hobbies?

Quanto? (How much?)

Quanto /ˈkwanto/ asks “how much.” As an adjective or pronoun it agrees in gender and number; as an adverb it stays unchanged: Quanto dura? (“How long does it last?”).

You use the masculine form quanto as an adjective with masculine singular nouns and the feminine form quanta, with feminine singular nouns.

Quanto tempo mi rimane?	How much time do I have left?
Quanta stoffa Le serve, signore?	How much fabric do you need, sir?
Quanto dura il volo per Glasgow?	How long is the flight to Glasgow?

Quanto has a plural form: quanti. Use quanti as an adjective with masculine plural nouns and quante with feminine plural nouns.

Quanti giorni mancano alla fine dell’anno?	How many days are left until the end of the year?
Quante notti vi fermate a Ravenna?	How many nights are you staying in Ravenna?
Quanti ne vuole, signora?	How many do you need, madam?

BEWARE: some common questions in Italian don’t begin with the question word you might expect.

Come ti chiami?	What’s your name?
Quanti anni hai?	How old are you?
Che tempo fa oggi?	What’s the weather like today?

Feeling overwhelmed by all these question words? With some practice you will be asking questions in Italian like a pro in no time.

Tag questions in Italian

Placed at the end of a sentence, a question tag, also known as question tail, turns a statement into a question and is used for checking information that we think we know is true.

Italian tag questions basically correspond to English question phrases like “aren’t you?”, “isn’t it?”, “didn’t you?”, “don’t they?” and so on.

These phrases can turn a statement into a request for confirmation. Their intonation varies with whether you are checking, insisting or expecting agreement:

È vero?	is it right?
Non è vero? / Nevvero?	isn’t it right?
Vero?	is it right?
Giusto?	right?
O sbaglio?	am I wrong?
Sì?	yes?
No? / O no?	no?
Neh?	(is that right?) regional, especially in parts of northern Italy

Take a look at the following examples:

Tua cugina si chiama Marina, giusto?	Your cousin’s name is Marina, isn’t it?
Mi scriverai, no?	You will write to me, won’t you?
Jessica è italiana, o no?	Jessica is Italian, isn’t she?
Hai finito i compiti, vero?	You finished your homework, didn’t you?
Vieni anche tu, no?	You’re coming too, aren’t you?
Il tempo è brutto oggi, o sbaglio?	The weather is bad today, isn’t it?

Indirect questions in Italian

Questions such as “cos’è successo?” (what happened?) or “dove vai?” (where are you going?) are direct questions and can be phrased in a more roundabout way, in order to sound less direct and more polite.

Look at the following examples: 

Dimmi cos’è successo, per cortesia	Tell me what happened, please
Ti dispiace dirmi cos’è successo?	Would you mind telling me what happened?

These constructions are called indirect questions.

To introduce an indirect question, use a phrase such as può dirmi. Here the remaining question can stay unchanged. In other contexts, the main expression and time relationship can affect the verb’s mood or tense.

Può dirmi cos’è successo, per favore?	Can you tell me what happened, please?

Here is a list of expressions that can be used to introduce an indirect question:

• Dimmi – Tell me

Dimmi perché l’hai fatto	Tell me why you did it

• Vorrei sapere – I’d like to know

Vorrei sapere se c’è la taglia XS	I’d like to know if the XS size is available

• Mi domando – I wonder

Mi domando cosa pensano	I wonder what they think

• Mi piacerebbe sapere – I’d like to know

Mi piacerebbe sapere come vi siete conosciuti	I’d like to know how you met

• Ti / Le / vi dispiace dirmi – Would you mind telling me

Ti dispiace dirmi cosa sta succedendo?	Would you mind telling me what’s going on?

• Non capisco – I don’t understand

Non capisco cosa intendi dire	I don’t understand what you mean

• Mi potresti dire – Can you please tell me

Mi potresti dire cos’è successo?	Can you please tell me what happened?

There you go. I hope this article was able to shed light on the topic of how to ask questions in Italian. Let’s see some of your example sentences in the comments section!