Learn Italian Question Words: Quando, Quanto, Quale and Perché

If you have been searching to learn about the most commonly used Italian question words, this video and article will answer your doubts. 

Let’s look at QUANDO / QUANTO / QUALE and PERCHE´

QUANDO (When)

It’s used as an adverb and it means WHEN. 

You do not need to make changes keep it as it is and insert it at the beginning of the question before the verb.

• Quando parti?
  – When are you leaving?
• Quando inizia la scuola?
  – When does school start?)
• Quando è il tuo compleanno
  – When is your birthday?

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QUANTO (How many / How much)

It's an interrogative adjective and you will use it to provide information about quantity. Remember that like all adjective it will have to match gender and number to the noun that it is referring to!

Let’s look at some examples:

• QUANTO (masculine singular)
• QUANTA (feminine singular)
• QUANTI (masculine plural)
• QUANTE (feminine plural)

 Look at these sentences:

• Quanto tempo stai ad Ibiza?
  – How long are you staying in Ibiza?
• Quanta farina serve per fare la torta?
  – How much flower do you need to make the cake?
• Quanti giorni mancano a Natale?
  – How many days until Christmas?

You have for sure already used QUANTO in the form QUANTI when you ask for a person’s age

• QUANTI anni hai? How old are you? 

QUALE (WHICH) 

It does change according to number! 

So when you have a singular nouns you will say QUALE (for both masculine and feminine) and you will say QUALI for the plural version (both masculine and feminine).

BE VERY CAREFUL because when you use QUALE and the word that follows is SINGULAR and it begins with a vowel you need to shorten it to QUAL WITHOUT THE APOSTROPHE!

So in a sentence like this: Qual è il tuo colors preferito? (What is your favorite color) be sure to take off the E at the end of QUALE! 

• Qual è la tua macchina? 
• Qual è il tuo cane?

On the other hand if you have words that begin with a consonant you just have to be sure to check if they are singular or plural: 

• Singular: Quale maglietta preferisci? (which t-shirt do you prefer?)
• Plural: Quali sono i tuoi occhiali? (which ones are your glasses? 

PERCHE’ (why)

This is an interrogative adverb that you use to ask the reason of an action. This word never changes in its form… just be careful to remember to correctly use the accent on the final E —> é

• Perché non vieni a cena da noi stasera? (Why don’t you come over for dinner tonight?)
• Perché sei triste? (Why are you sad?)
• Perché non vuoi venire? (Why don’t you want to come?)
• Perché studi Italiano? (Why do you study Italian?

Do you also want to learn how to say how long?