cos'è
The English phrase "what is" is translated into Italian as cos'è.
The phrase is used to ask for the definition or identity of something.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is a contraction of 'che cosa è', where 'che' means 'what', 'cosa' means 'thing' and 'è' is the third-person singular of 'to be'.
Which one should you use?
While cos'è is a common contraction, adding che at the beginning (che cos'è) is the standard way to form the full interrogative phrase. The full, uncontracted form of the phrase is che cosa è.
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
Che cos'è is slightly more common in spoken, everyday Italian than the more formal Che cosa è.
How does it change in a sentence?
The form cos'è is a contraction of cosa è used to avoid the hiatus between the two vowels.
Did you know?
- Adding the word mai to the phrase to create che cos'è mai shifts the meaning from a simple question to an expression of intense bewilderment or disbelief.
- In many Italian dialects, the word used for 'what' might change entirely, meaning a person from Naples and a person from Venice might use different words to ask the same question.
- In casual conversation, Italians often drop both che and cosa and simply use è with a rising intonation to ask 'what is it?'
Examples in context
- Che cos'è un UFO?What is a UFO?This is useful for asking for the definition of a specific term using cos'è.Tatoeba #1307800 by Guybrush88, translation #30165 by CC
- Che cos'è un watt?What is a watt?Tatoeba #6066778 by Guybrush88, translation #6066600 by Hybrid
- Cos'è che non sai?What is it that you don't know?This shows how to use cos'è to ask what a specific unknown thing is.Tatoeba #8690480 by PazEr, translation #8690024 by ajje
- Cosa vuol dire "andiamo a mangiare una pizza"?What does "let's go grab a pizza" mean?
- 258 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Giulia and Matteo are looking at an unusual object in a museum.
- GiuliaScusa, cos'è questo oggetto?Excuse me, what is this object?
- MatteoNon lo so, sembra molto antico.I don't know, it looks very ancient.
- GiuliaÈ un reperto archeologico?Is it an archaeological find?
- MatteoForse, leggiamo la descrizione.Maybe, let's read the description.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
