Cosa, Che Cosa, Che: Three Ways to Say 'What'

Italian has three different forms for "what" — cosa, che cosa, and che — and they are essentially interchangeable. Cosa fai?, Che cosa fai?, and Che fai? all mean exactly the same thing: "What are you doing?" The difference between them is not meaning but register and regional preference. This is unusual: most language pairs collapse "what" into a single word, and Italian's triadic equivalence is one of those small features that English speakers love once they understand it, because all three forms work and you can pick whichever feels natural.

This page covers the three forms, their register and regional distribution, the use of what with prepositions, the indirect-question form, and one critical pitfall: the word che has three different grammatical lives (interrogative, relative pronoun, exclamative), and learners need to be able to tell them apart.

1. The triadic equivalence

The three forms are exactly equivalent in meaning. Pick any of them and the question is the same.

All three sentences are interchangeable. None is more "correct" than the others. Cosa is the most common in modern speech across the country; che cosa is the standard form in writing and careful speech; che alone is conversational shorthand.

The historical logic: che was the original interrogative, going back to Latin quid. Cosa was originally a noun meaning "thing" — che cosa? literally meant "what thing?" — and over time the two were felt as equivalent. Eventually cosa could appear by itself, dropping the che, while che could appear by itself, dropping the cosa. All three coexist in modern Italian.

2. Register and regional preferences

Although the three forms are interchangeable, speakers do have preferences — and those preferences correlate roughly with region and register.

A speaker from Milan or Turin is statistically more likely to default to cosa. A speaker from Rome or Florence is more likely to default to che. A teacher correcting a student's essay will almost certainly recommend che cosa. None of these is a hard rule — every Italian speaker uses all three forms, and the regional/register tendencies are statistical rather than absolute.

In a formal essay or business letter, prefer che cosa. In an everyday conversation, cosa is the safe default. In casual speech with friends, all three work; che signals especially relaxed register.

3. With prepositions: di che, con che cosa, a cosa

Italian, like with chi, places the preposition before the question word. There is no preposition stranding. All three forms of "what" combine with prepositions, and you can choose which form to use.

The English habit of stranding the preposition (What are you talking about?) is so deep that it is the most common error English speakers make with cosa / che cosa / che. The fix: when your English sentence ends with a preposition, move it to the front in Italian, in front of the question word.

4. The big pitfall: che has three lives

This is the section where careful attention pays off. The word che is one of the most overworked words in Italian. It has at least three completely different grammatical roles, and learners need to be able to tell them apart.

Che as interrogative — "what?"

The use covered on this page. Che asks a question and has the same meaning as cosa and che cosa.

Che as relative pronoun — "that, which, who"

In a relative clause, che introduces the clause and refers back to a noun in the main clause. This che is not asking a question — it is connecting two clauses.

For full coverage of relative che, see Relative Pronoun Che.

Che as exclamative — "what a!" / "how!"

In exclamations, che introduces a noun phrase or adjective and conveys surprise, admiration, or strong evaluation. This is not a question — it is an emphatic statement.

Telling them apart

The three uses of che look similar at first glance, but the surrounding clues are different:

When che is followed by a noun in an exclamation, it usually means "what a..." (Che peccato! Che fortuna! Che giornata!). When it is followed by an adjective, it usually means "how..." (Che bello! Che strano! Che brutto!). When it is followed by a verb, context tells you whether it is interrogative, relative, or — rarely — an exclamative inviting evaluation (Che combini? — "What are you up to?").

5. The "quello che" construction — "what" inside a clause

When you want to say what inside a clause (as in "I know what you mean," "tell me what you ate"), Italian has a separate construction: quello che or ciò che. This is not the interrogative cosa / che cosa — it is a relative construction meaning "that which" or "the thing that."

This construction parallels English "what" in non-question contexts — what you said, what I want — but in Italian, you cannot just use cosa alone in these positions. You need quello che or ciò che.

6. Indirect questions: cosa vs che cosa

When a what question is embedded inside another sentence (as the object of sapere, chiedere, dire), the question word stays the same, but the rising intonation and question mark are dropped.

In indirect questions in formal or careful Italian, the verb may take the congiuntivo:

The indicative is also acceptable in everyday speech: Non so cosa ha fatto and Non so cosa abbia fatto both work, the first more colloquial, the second more careful. For the deeper grammar, see Indirect Questions.

7. Cosa as a noun — "thing"

A small but useful note: cosa is also a regular Italian noun meaning "thing." This is the original meaning, from which the interrogative cosa is derived. As a noun it is feminine and inflects normally: la cosa (the thing), le cose (the things).

This noun use is unconnected to the interrogative use — context tells you which is which. Cosa fai? (What are you doing?) is interrogative; La cosa è questa (The thing is this) is the noun. The article la / le and the absence of question intonation are the cues.

8. Italian vs English

To consolidate, here is how Italian "what" compares to English "what":

The structural lesson: where English has one what and one usage pattern, Italian has three forms with subtle register differences and a strict preposition-fronting rule. The triadic equivalence (cosa = che cosa = che) is unusual and worth memorising as a unit.

A worked dialogue: cosa, che cosa, che in action

A short conversation between two friends that uses every variant.

That dialogue uses cosa, che, che cosa, che bello (exclamative), and quello che (relative) — six different functions of the what family in seven turns, with prepositions fronted in every prepositional question.

Common Mistakes

Key takeaways

• Cosa, che cosa, and che are interchangeable — they all mean "what." Pick by register: cosa for everyday, che cosa for careful, che for casual.
• Prepositions precede the question word — always. Di cosa, con che cosa, a che, per cosa. No preposition stranding.
• Che has three lives: interrogative ("what?"), relative pronoun ("that, which, who"), and exclamative ("what a! / how!"). Context and punctuation tell them apart.
• For "what" inside a clause, use quello che or ciò che — not bare cosa. I like what you do = Mi piace quello che fai.
• In indirect questions, the same forms apply, but the question mark and rising intonation are dropped. The mood may shift to the congiuntivo in careful speech.
• Cosa is also a noun meaning "thing." La cosa, le cose. Context (and the article) tells you which use is which.

For who questions, see Chi: Who/Whom. For which with options, see Interrogative Pronouns. For the chi-vs-cosa drill, see Chi vs Che Cosa. For relative che, see Relative Pronoun Che. For the question system as a whole, see Italian Questions: Overview.