Question Words
Question Words
Italian question words work much like their English counterparts, and asking a question needs far less rearranging than English does.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
perché Means Both 'Why' and 'Because'
Perché non vieni? Perché sono stanco.
Why aren't you coming? Because I'm tired.
Unlike English, which uses two different words, Italian uses perché for both the question and the answer — context alone tells you which meaning is intended. There's no separate word for 'because' to learn.
No Word-Order Inversion Needed
Sei stanco. → Sei stanco?
You are tired. → Are you tired?
English flips the subject and verb to form a question (You are tired → Are you tired?). Italian doesn't: the word order stays exactly the same, and only rising intonation in speech (or a question mark in writing) signals that it's a question rather than a statement.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- English
- who
- English
- what
- English
- where
- English
- when
- English
- why / because
- English
- how
- English
- how much
- English
- how many
- English
- which
- English
- Who are you?
- English
- Where do you live?
- English
- How much does it cost?