Breakdown of Che cosa diceva la principessa al re?
che
what
la cosa
the thing
al
to the / at the
dire
to say, to tell
Questions & Answers about Che cosa diceva la principessa al re?
Why is the verb diceva and not "diva", since the infinitive is dire?
Dire is an irregular verb. In the imperfect tense, instead of using the normal stem from the infinitive, it uses its older Latin stem dic-. Once you have that stem, you just add the regular imperfect endings. That is why "he/she/it was saying" is diceva.
The English translation is "What did the princess say." Why use the imperfect diceva instead of the passato prossimo ha detto?
English often translates both past tenses as "did say," but Italian makes a strict distinction. The imperfect (diceva) is used for ongoing, descriptive, or repeated actions in the past. This sentence really implies "What was she saying?" (a continuous action) or "What did she usually say?". For a single, completed statement, you would use the passato prossimo: Che cosa ha detto?
Can I just say Cosa instead of Che cosa?
Why is it al re instead of just a re?