Learn Italian: Come si chiama questo animale in italiano? - What is this animal called in Italian?

Come si chiama questo animale in italiano?

What is this animal called in Italian?

Breakdown of Come si chiama questo animale in italiano?

in / made of (material)

l'animale

the animal (m)

Questions & Answers about Come si chiama questo animale in italiano?

Why does the sentence start with Come (how) if the English translation uses 'what'?

When asking for names, Italians literally ask 'how does it call itself?' rather than 'what is it called?'. This is why you must use Come (how) instead of the Italian words for 'what' (cosa or che cosa).

What is the role of si chiama in this sentence?

It comes from the reflexive verb chiamarsi, which means 'to call oneself'. While English uses the passive 'is called', Italian uses the reflexive form, so si chiama literally translates to 'it calls itself'.

Why is the subject (questo animale) placed after the verb (si chiama)?

In Italian questions, it is perfectly normal and very common to place the subject after the verb. Saying Come si chiama questo animale? flows much better than putting questo animale before the verb.

The word animale ends in an 'e'. Why does it use the masculine word questo (this)?

Italian nouns that end in 'e' can be either masculine or feminine. You just have to memorize their gender. Animale is masculine, so it takes the masculine singular word for 'this', which is questo.

Why is the word italiano written with a lowercase 'i'?