Breakdown of Voglio sapere qual è l'età della ragazza.
essere
to be
la ragazza
the girl
di
of, from
volere
to want
sapere
to know
quale
which (singular / plural: quali)
l'età
the age (f)
Questions & Answers about Voglio sapere qual è l'età della ragazza.
In English, we change the word order for indirect questions ("what the girl's age IS"). Why doesn't the verb move to the end in Italian?
In Italian, the word order in an indirect question is exactly the same as in a direct question. The direct question is Qual è l'età della ragazza? (What is the girl's age?). When you attach it to Voglio sapere, you just plug in that exact phrase without rearranging any words.
Why do we use qual here for "what" instead of che or cosa?
I noticed there's no apostrophe in qual è. Is that a typo?
No, it is actually correct! Because qual is considered a valid, standalone word in Italian (a naturally shortened form of quale), it doesn't need an apostrophe to bridge the gap with è. Writing "qual'è" is a very common spelling mistake even for native Italians, but leaving out the apostrophe is the strict grammatical rule.
Since this is an indirect question, shouldn't we use the subjunctive mood, like qual sia?
You absolutely can use the subjunctive here (Voglio sapere qual sia l'età...), which sounds elegant and is preferred in formal writing. However, in everyday spoken Italian, it is completely acceptable and very common to just use the indicative mood (qual è) for indirect questions, as seen in this sentence.
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