Che cosa vuoi comprare al mercato?

Che cosa means what? in a question. It is a very common way to ask what in Italian.

In this sentence, Che cosa vuoi comprare...? literally has the structure What do you want to buy...?

You will also hear:

• Cosa vuoi comprare al mercato?
• Che vuoi comprare al mercato? (less common in everyday standard speech)

All of these can mean the same thing, but che cosa often sounds a bit fuller or more explicit.

Yes, but the difference is small.

• che cosa = what
• cosa = what

In most everyday situations, they are interchangeable:

• Che cosa vuoi comprare?
• Cosa vuoi comprare?

Both are natural.
Che cosa can sound slightly more formal or complete, while cosa is often a little more direct and conversational.

Vuoi is the second person singular form of volere (to want).

The subject is understood as you, so:

• io voglio = I want
• tu vuoi = you want

So vuoi comprare means do you want to buy or literally you want to buy.

Italian usually does not need the subject pronoun tu, because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

Italian often drops subject pronouns when they are not needed.

So instead of saying:

• Che cosa tu vuoi comprare al mercato?

Italian normally says:

• Che cosa vuoi comprare al mercato?

Because vuoi already tells us the subject is you.

You can add tu for emphasis:

• Che cosa vuoi comprare tu al mercato?

That might suggest contrast, like What do you want to buy at the market?

This is a very common Italian pattern.

When a conjugated verb like volere is followed by another verb, the second verb stays in the infinitive:

• vuoi comprare = want to buy
• voglio mangiare = I want to eat
• vuole andare = he/she wants to go

So:

• vuoi = conjugated form of volere
• comprare = infinitive, to buy

Comprare is the infinitive verb meaning to buy.

After vuoi, it tells us what the person wants to do:

• vuoi comprare = you want to buy

This is the same pattern as in English:

• want to buy
• want to eat
• want to see

So comprare is not conjugated here because vuoi is already the main conjugated verb.

Al mercato means at the market or sometimes from the market / at the marketplace, depending on context.

It is made of:

• a = to / at
• il = the

These combine into:

• al = a + il

So:

• al mercato = at the market

This kind of contraction is very common in Italian:

• a + il = al
• a + la = alla
• a + i = ai
• a + gli = agli
• a + le = alle

Because Italian usually uses the article with many places and locations where English might not.

Here, mercato takes the definite article il, and after a, they combine:

• a + il mercato → al mercato

So al mercato is the normal form.

This is similar to:

• al cinema = to/at the cinema
• al supermercato = to/at the supermarket

The sentence as given is the most neutral and standard order:

• Che cosa vuoi comprare al mercato?

But Italian word order can sometimes shift for emphasis:

• Al mercato, che cosa vuoi comprare?
• Che cosa vuoi comprare, al mercato? (more marked, less neutral)

For a learner, the safest pattern is: question word + verb + infinitive/complement

So this sentence is a very good model to follow.

Yes. That is very common and natural.

These are all possible:

• Che cosa vuoi comprare al mercato?
• Cosa vuoi comprare al mercato?
• Che vuoi comprare al mercato? (less commonly taught as the default)

For most learners, che cosa and cosa are the most useful choices.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

keh KO-zah VWOY kom-PRAH-reh al mer-KAH-toh

A few helpful points:

• che sounds like keh
• cosa has a clear z/s sound depending on accent, but learners can safely aim for KO-sa / KO-za
• vuoi is pronounced roughly like vwoi
• comprare has the stress on -pra-
• mercato has the stress on -ca-

Italian pronunciation is usually quite regular, so once you know the sound rules, it becomes easier to predict.

A very literal breakdown is:

• Che cosa = what
• vuoi = do you want / you want
• comprare = to buy
• al mercato = at the market

So the structure is basically:

What do you want to buy at the market?

This is a useful sentence because it shows several core Italian patterns at once:

• a question word
• an omitted subject pronoun
• a conjugated verb + infinitive
• a preposition + article combination