Chi is the Italian interrogative pronoun for who and whom. It refers to people, only people, and never anything else. It is invariable — no gender agreement, no number agreement, no plural form. Chi sei? (Who are you?), Chi sono? (Who are they?), Chi conosci? (Whom do you know?) — always chi. The only thing that changes is what comes around it: a verb, a preposition, or another phrase.
This page covers the four uses of chi — as subject, as object, after a preposition, and inside an indirect question — and the single most important rule for English speakers: prepositions always precede chi. Italian does not allow preposition stranding. Who are you talking to? in Italian is Con chi parli? — never Chi parli con?
1. Chi as subject — "who"
In its simplest use, chi is the subject of the question. The verb that follows is in the third-person singular by default — even when the question is implicitly about plural answers — because Italian treats chi as grammatically singular.
Chi sei?
Who are you?
Chi è quello?
Who is that? / Who's that guy?
Chi viene alla festa stasera?
Who's coming to the party tonight?
Chi ha lasciato la porta aperta?
Who left the door open?
Chi vuole un caffè?
Who wants a coffee?
The verb is singular even when the speaker expects multiple people to answer. Chi vuole un caffè? asked to a group of ten people still gets vuole, not vogliono — chi is singular. If you want to make the plurality grammatically explicit, you switch to a different construction:
Chi di voi vuole un caffè?
Which of you wants a coffee? (partitive — chi di voi)
Quali di voi vogliono un caffè?
Which of you (plural) want a coffee? (with quali — agrees with the plural)
The partitive chi di voi / chi di noi / chi di loro is a common pattern: chi + di + tonic plural pronoun = "which of you / us / them." See Tonic Pronouns Overview for the full set of tonic pronouns.
2. Chi as direct object — "whom"
When chi is the direct object — the whom of the question — it goes at the front of the sentence and the verb follows immediately. No preposition appears.
Chi conosci a Roma?
Whom do you know in Rome?
Chi hai visto al mercato?
Whom did you see at the market?
Chi cerchi?
Whom are you looking for?
Chi inviti al matrimonio?
Whom are you inviting to the wedding?
In English, the whom form is dying out — modern English mostly uses who in both subject and object position (Who did you see? sounds normal). Italian makes no such distinction either: chi is the same form for both subject and object, so this is one less thing to remember.
The structural difference English speakers must adjust to is that, in Italian object questions, the verb does not have an auxiliary the way English does. Italian Chi hai visto? uses the perfect tense (hai visto = "you have seen") directly; English needs did you see with an auxiliary.
Chi ami?
Whom do you love?
Chi hai chiamato ieri sera?
Whom did you call last night?
3. Chi after a preposition — the no-stranding rule
This is the most important section of the page. Italian does not strand prepositions. When chi is the object of a preposition (with whom, to whom, for whom, about whom, of whom), the preposition must come before chi — never at the end of the sentence.
| Italian | English (preposition stranded) | English (more formal) |
|---|---|---|
| Con chi parli? | Who are you talking to? | With whom are you speaking? |
| A chi hai dato i soldi? | Who did you give the money to? | To whom did you give the money? |
| Di chi parlate? | Who are you talking about? | Of whom are you speaking? |
| Per chi è questo regalo? | Who is this gift for? | For whom is this gift? |
| Da chi vai? | Whose place are you going to? | To whose place are you going? |
| Su chi posso contare? | Who can I count on? | On whom can I count? |
The key insight: English allows two patterns — the formal With whom? (preposition fronted) and the colloquial Who... with? (preposition stranded). Italian only allows the first pattern. Chi parli con? is ungrammatical and immediately sounds wrong to native speakers. The preposition must lead.
Con chi vai al cinema?
Who are you going to the cinema with?
A chi devo dare le chiavi?
Who should I give the keys to?
Di chi è questa giacca?
Whose jacket is this?
Per chi voti?
Who are you voting for?
Da chi hai sentito questa storia?
Who did you hear this story from?
Su chi possiamo contare?
Who can we count on?
The English habit of stranding prepositions is so deep that it is the single most common error English speakers make with chi. The fix is simple: when you would say who + (verb) + (preposition) at the end, translate it into Italian by moving the preposition to the front, in front of chi.
The most common chi + preposition combinations
These are the chi + preposition combinations you'll hear and use the most:
| Combination | Meaning | Common context |
|---|---|---|
| con chi? | with whom? | "who are you with / going with?" |
| a chi? | to whom? | "who did you give it to / send it to / write to?" |
| di chi? | of whom? / whose? | ownership questions |
| per chi? | for whom? | "who is this for?" |
| da chi? | from whom? / at whose place? | "who did you hear from?", "whose place are you going to?" |
| su chi? | on whom? / about whom? | "who can I count on?" |
| tra chi / fra chi? | among whom? | "among whom?" (less common) |
Di chi as the possessive question
The combination di chi deserves special attention because it is how Italian asks "whose?" — there is no separate word for "whose," only the construction di chi.
Di chi è questa borsa?
Whose bag is this?
Di chi sono questi libri?
Whose books are these?
Di chi è la macchina parcheggiata davanti?
Whose car is parked out front?
The structure is di chi + form of essere + the thing. The verb agrees with the thing, not with chi. Di chi sono questi libri? — the sono agrees with libri, not with chi. This is one of the patterns worth memorising as a unit.
Da chi — "from whom" and "at whose place"
The preposition da with chi has two readings depending on the verb:
- With verbs of receiving, learning, hearing: from whom.
- With verbs of going, staying, coming: to / at whose place.
Da chi hai imparato l'italiano?
Who did you learn Italian from?
Da chi vai stasera?
Whose place are you going to tonight?
Da chi sei stato?
Whose place have you been to?
The "at someone's place" reading is a very Italian use of da — see Da: At Someone's Place for the deeper grammar.
4. Chi in indirect questions — "who" inside another sentence
When a chi question is embedded inside another sentence (as the object of sapere, chiedere, dire, capire), the structure stays the same but the rising intonation and the question mark are dropped. The sentence ends with a period (unless the outer sentence is itself a question).
Non so chi viene.
I don't know who's coming.
Mi ha chiesto chi sei.
He asked me who you are.
Dimmi con chi sei stato.
Tell me whom you were with.
Non capisco a chi parli.
I don't understand whom you're talking to.
Ho dimenticato di chi è questo cappotto.
I forgot whose coat this is.
In careful or formal Italian, the verb in an indirect question may take the congiuntivo to mark the embedded nature of the question:
Non so chi sia.
I don't know who he is. (more careful — congiuntivo)
Mi chiedo chi abbia lasciato il messaggio.
I wonder who left the message. (congiuntivo)
The indicative is also acceptable in everyday speech: Non so chi è and Non so chi sia both mean "I don't know who he is." For more on indicative-vs-congiuntivo in indirect questions, see Indirect Questions.
5. Chi as relative pronoun — "the one who"
Italian chi has a second life as a relative pronoun meaning "the one who," "those who," or "whoever." This is distinct from the interrogative use, but worth recognising because the two uses can look similar at first glance.
Chi va piano va sano e va lontano.
Whoever goes slowly goes safely and goes far. (Italian proverb)
Chi non lavora non mangia.
Whoever doesn't work doesn't eat.
Chi vuole venire alzi la mano.
Whoever wants to come, raise your hand.
In these uses, chi is not asking a question — it is generalising. The clue is that there is no question mark, no rising intonation, and the sentence makes a general statement about a class of people. For full coverage, see the relative-pronoun page (out of scope here).
6. Comparison with English
To summarise the structural relationship between Italian chi and English who/whom:
| Feature | English | Italian |
|---|---|---|
| Subject form | who | chi |
| Object form | whom (formal) / who (informal) | chi (only one form) |
| Possessive form | whose | di chi (no separate word) |
| Plural form | none (who works for both) | none (chi for any number) |
| Preposition stranding | allowed (informal): Who with? | not allowed: Con chi? |
| Auxiliary in questions | do/does/did required | none — verb stands alone |
The two big takeaways: Italian collapses who, whom, and whose into chi (with di chi for "whose"), and Italian forbids preposition stranding. The first is a simplification; the second is the structural rule English speakers most frequently break.
A worked dialogue: chi in action
A short conversation that uses every major chi construction.
— Pronto, chi parla?
— Hello, who's speaking? (subject)
— Sono Marco. Vorrei parlare con Sara, è in casa?
— It's Marco. I'd like to speak with Sara — is she home? (con + name; in a question we'd ask 'Con chi vuoi parlare?')
— Sara non c'è. A chi devo dire che ha chiamato?
— Sara isn't here. Whom should I tell that called?
— Dille Marco, suo amico. Senti, di chi è la macchina rossa parcheggiata davanti?
— Tell her it's Marco, her friend. By the way, whose is the red car parked out front?
— Boh, non lo so. Non so neanche chi abita di fronte.
— Dunno. I don't even know who lives across the way.
— Ah, ok. Per chi è quel pacco sul tavolo?
— Ah, OK. Who is that package on the table for?
— Per Sara. Glielo lascio. Da chi vai dopo?
— For Sara. I'll leave it for her. Whose place are you going to next?
That dialogue uses chi in six different positions: subject (chi parla?), a chi, di chi (twice — once as a possessive question, once embedded in an indirect question), per chi, and da chi (in its "to whose place" reading). At no point does a preposition get stranded — every prepositional question fronts the preposition before chi.
Common Mistakes
❌ Chi parli con?
Wrong — Italian forbids preposition stranding. The preposition must come before chi.
✅ Con chi parli?
Who are you talking to?
❌ Chi è la borsa?
Wrong — for 'whose' Italian uses 'di chi', not bare chi.
✅ Di chi è la borsa?
Whose bag is this?
❌ Chi vengono alla festa?
Wrong — chi takes a singular verb, even when several people are expected to answer. Use viene.
✅ Chi viene alla festa? / Quali ragazzi vengono?
Who's coming to the party? / Which boys are coming?
❌ Chi fai vedere?
Marginal as a translation of English 'Whom do you see?' — the fai here is read as causative ('Whom are you having someone see?'), not as the English-style auxiliary 'do.' Italian has no 'do' auxiliary in questions; the lexical verb stands alone.
✅ Chi vedi?
Whom do you see?
❌ Cosa ha lasciato la porta aperta?
Wrong — chi is for people; cosa is for things. Someone, not something, leaves a door open.
✅ Chi ha lasciato la porta aperta?
Who left the door open?
❌ A che parli?
Wrong if asking about a person — use 'a chi' for people, 'a cosa' or 'a che cosa' for things or purposes.
✅ A chi parli?
Whom are you talking to?
Key takeaways
- Chi is invariable and refers only to people. No gender, no number, no plural. The same form serves as subject, direct object, and prepositional object.
- The verb after chi is third-person singular. Chi viene? takes viene, not vengono, even if the speaker expects multiple answers.
- Prepositions precede chi — always. Con chi, a chi, di chi, per chi, da chi, su chi. Italian forbids preposition stranding. This is the single most important rule for English speakers learning chi.
- "Whose" is di chi — there is no dedicated possessive interrogative word.
- In indirect questions, chi keeps the same form; what changes is the intonation, the question mark (gone), and sometimes the mood (congiuntivo for careful speech).
- Don't confuse chi with che or cosa. Chi is for people; che and cosa are for things. Chi mangia? (Who is eating?) and Cosa mangia? (What is he eating?) are different questions.
For what questions, see Cosa, Che Cosa, Che. For which with options, see Interrogative Pronouns. For the chi-vs-cosa drill, see Chi vs Che Cosa. For the question system as a whole, see Italian Questions: Overview.
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- Italian Questions: OverviewA1 — How Italian asks questions — yes/no by intonation alone, wh-questions with the question word at the front, no auxiliary 'do', and pro-drop or postposed subjects. The big picture, with a map of every question subpage.
- Yes/No Questions in ItalianA1 — How to ask yes/no questions with nothing but a rising pitch — same word order as the statement, no auxiliary, plus the tag-question particles ('no?', 'vero?', 'giusto?'), the confirmation responses, and how subject pronouns add emphasis.
- Cosa, Che Cosa, Che: Three Ways to Say 'What'A1 — Italian has three equivalent forms for 'what' — cosa, che cosa, and che. They mean exactly the same thing but differ in register and regional preference. Plus: the 'che' triple ambiguity (interrogative, relative, exclamative) and how to use 'what' with prepositions.
- Interrogative Pronouns: chi, che cosa/cosa, quale, quantoA1 — The four major Italian interrogative pronouns — who, what, which, how much — their forms, agreement, and the orthographic trap of qual è.
- Chi vs Che Cosa: People vs ThingsA1 — The fundamental Italian distinction: chi for people, cosa (or che cosa, or che) for things and events. The rule, the prepositions, and the few cases where English speakers slip.
- The Preposition Di: OverviewA1 — Di is Italian's most versatile preposition — possession, material, origin, topic, partitive, comparison, time, cause, authorship, and the connector between certain verbs and infinitives. The full inventory of uses, the contractions del / della / dei / degli / delle, and the elision di → d' before vowels.