being nosey in italian - the interrogatives

OK ragazzi, today we're going to learn how to ask questions in Italian. In both Italian and English you use a special word known as an "interrogative". English examples include the famous who, what, when, where, etc.

An easy way to learn which interrogative to use when is to think of every question as a wheel. The spokes are the interrogatives and the hub they all revolve around is always a verb. Think about it - any question you ask has a verb at its core. You might ask what someone did, who did it, why they did it, when, but it always comes back to some aspect of something being done. So rather than rely on memory alone when learning the interrogatives, use logic to help you. Ask yourself, "Specifically what info about the verb am I looking for?" Here's a summary of the many options.

To ask about…	Use…	English equivalent	Example
The verb itself	Che, cosa or che cosa + fare	What + to do	Cosa facciamo? (Answer: Usciamo.)
The cause, motive, purpose, aim, end, objective, reason or justification for the verb	Perche’, come mai (people also say per quale motivo)	Why, how come	Perche’ usciamo? (Answer: Per mangiare.)
The verb’s location in space	Dove (or dov’)	Where	Dove mangiamo?
The verb’s location in time	Quando	When	Quando mangiamo?
The manner in which the verb is being done	Come (or com’)	How	Come mangiamo senza soldi (without money)?
The human subject of the verb	Chi	Who	Chi mangia con noi?
The human direct object of the verb	Chi	Whom	Chi vediamo mentre mangiamo?
The human indirect object of the verb	Preposition + chi	Preposition + whom	A chi invitiamo?
The human to whom the subject of the verb belongs	Di chi	Whose	Di chi e’ il ristorante?
The non-human subject of the verb	Che, cosa (cos’) or che cosa (che cos’) (for a broad answer), quale (or qual) (for a more specific one) (agrees in number)	What, which, which one(s)	Che mezzo (means) ci porta al ristorante? Quale macchina?
The non-human direct object of the verb	Che (and variants), quale (or qual) (agrees in number)	What, which, which one(s)	Cosa mangiamo? Quali frutte?
The quantity of the subject or direct object of the verb	Quanto (agrees in gender and number)	How much, how many	Quante frutte mangiamo? Quante ragazze mangiano la frutta con noi?
The duration of the verb	Quanto	How long	Quanto dura l’ uscita (outing)?
How much something costs (to cost is a verb)	Quanto	How much	Quanto costa?

Confused? You know what to do - grab the nearest interrogative and ask me a question. Use the comments or the forum. Ciao for now!