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Come si dice questa cosa in inglese?

Come si dice questa cosa in inglese?
How do you say this thing in English?
From Lesson 63:Classroom Italian (non ho capito)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Come si dice questa cosa in inglese?

Why does it say si dice instead of just dici (you say)?
Si dice literally means "is said" or "does one say". Italians use this structure to talk about people in general, which is exactly how we use "you" in the English phrase "How do you say...". If you asked Come dici..., it would mean "How do you specifically say...".
Why is there no word for "do" in the Italian sentence?
English uses "do" as a helper word to make questions (like "How do you say?"). Italian doesn't use helper verbs for questions. You just use the main verb, which is why Come si dice stands alone without a translation for "do".
Why is it questa and not questo?
Questa means "this" and it has to match the gender and number of the noun it describes. Since cosa (thing) is a feminine singular word, the masculine questo changes its ending to the feminine singular form, questa.
Why is it just in inglese without an article, like nell'inglese?
When you are talking about saying or writing something in a specific language, Italian simply uses the preposition in followed by the name of the language. You don't need to add a word for "the".

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