In short

Italian builds a yes/no question out of a plain statement by doing nothing at all: same words, same order, rising voice, question mark. Parli italiano. -> Parli italiano? There is no do, no does, no inversion. For open questions you put a question word - chi, che cosa, dove, quando, come, perché, quanto, quale - at the front, and any preposition goes in front of it: Di dove sei?

The rule

Step 1 - For a yes/no question, change nothing. Take the statement and raise your voice at the end. English rebuilds the sentence (You speak Italian -> Do you speak Italian?); Italian does not.

• Tu parli italiano. -> Parli italiano?
• Anna è in ufficio. -> Anna è in ufficio?
• Avete una prenotazione. -> Avete una prenotazione?

The trap for English speakers is the auxiliary. There is no Italian word for the question do. Nothing goes at the front, nothing swaps places. If you can say the statement, you can already say the question.

If you want to name the subject, you have two natural spots - before the verb, or pushed to the very end for emphasis. Both are correct: Marco parla italiano? / Parla italiano Marco? Most of the time, as always in Italian, you simply leave the subject out (see step 4).

To turn a statement into a question that fishes for agreement, hang vero? or no? on the end: Sei italiano, vero? (You’re Italian, right?)

Step 2 - For an open question, put the question word first. The interrogative opens the sentence, the verb comes immediately after it:

question word + verb + (rest)

Dove abiti? - Quando arrivi? - Come stai? - Perché piangi?

Step 3 - If you name the subject, it goes AFTER the verb. This is the rule English speakers break most. The question word wants the verb next to it, so the subject moves behind it:

• Dove abita Marco? (not Dove Marco abita?)
• Che cosa dicono i tuoi amici?
• Quando parte il treno?

Step 4 - A preposition stays glued to the front of its question word. English happily leaves the preposition dangling at the end (Who are you going out with?). Italian never does: the preposition and the interrogative travel together, at the front.

• Con chi esci? - Who are you going out with?
• Di dove sei? - Where are you from?
• A che ora mangiamo? - What time are we eating?
• Di chi è questa borsa? - Whose bag is this?
• Da quanto tempo studi? - How long have you been studying?

The preposition is chosen by the verb or the meaning, exactly as in a statement (step 7): sono di Roma -> Di dove sei?

Step 5 - Know the small print of three of them.

• chi is invariable and never takes a plural ending, even about many people: Chi sono quelle ragazze?
• quanto agrees like an adjective when a noun follows it (quanti anni, quante ore), but is frozen as quanto when it hangs on a verb: Quanto costa?
• quale has only two forms, quale / quali, and before è it loses its ending with no apostrophe: qual è.

What “what” is. Three forms are all standard and all mean the same: che cosa fai? (neutral), cosa fai? (northern, now everywhere), che fai? (central, informal). Pick one and stop worrying. Before a noun, only che works: Che lavoro fai?

Forms & patterns

The eight question words:

Elision - the three shapes to memorise as whole words:

Preposition + interrogative, the everyday set:

Examples

Common mistakes

• Fai tu parli italiano? -> Parli italiano? - Italian has no auxiliary do. The statement itself, said with a rising voice, is the question.
• Qual’è il tuo numero? -> Qual è il tuo numero? - qual is a truncated form, not an elided one, so it takes no apostrophe. (Dov’è and com’è, by contrast, do.)
• Dove Marco abita? -> Dove abita Marco? - after a question word the verb comes first and the named subject follows it.
• Chi esci con? -> Con chi esci? - a preposition can never be left at the end of an Italian question; it leads its question word.
• Quanto anni hai? -> Quanti anni hai? - before a noun quanto agrees in gender and number; it only stays fixed when it modifies a verb (Quanto costa?).

Tips

• The best news in this lesson: a yes/no question costs you zero grammar. If in doubt, say the statement and let your voice climb. That alone is a complete, correct Italian question.
• perché does double duty: it asks why and it answers because. Perché non mangi? - Perché non ho fame. One word, both jobs - and it always keeps its accent on the é.
• che vs quale before a noun: che just asks (Che film guardi? - what film), quale implies a choice from a known set (Quale film guardi, questo o quello? - which of these). When you are unsure, che is the safe everyday pick.
• Learn dov’è, com’è and qual è as three fixed spellings, not as rules to re-derive. They are among the most-written phrases in the language, and qual è is the one Italians themselves get wrong.