What is that?

How do you say it in Italian?

Cos’è?

Cos’è? is how you most commonly say what is that into Italian. Since it’s a generic question, it can also be used to translate what is this?.

For example, you can say…

Cos’è? – È un manuale di giardinaggio. Lo vuoi leggere?
What it that? – It is a gardening manual. Do you want to read it?

Cos’è? – È un leone. Stagli lontano!
What it that? – It is a lion. Stay away from him!

In everyday language, cosa is almost always shortened to cos’, with an apostrophe, when it directly precedes a verb beginning with a vowel (e is a vowel). You will never say cosa è, as this is awkward to pronounce. Cos’è is faster and easier on your tongue.

È comes from the verb essere, to be, which belongs to the second -ere group. Its indicativo presente conjugation is irregular.

Cos’è quello?

Instead of just cos’è?, the question what is that in Italian can also be rendered as cos’è quello?, literally translating to what is that?.

The expressions are interchangeable. One is just longer than the other!

For example, you can say…

Cos’è quello? – Non ne ho idea.
What is that? – I have no idea.

Cos’è quel bagliore all’orizzonte? – Credo che sia un aereo.
What is that glow on the horizon? – I think it’s an airplane.

Cosa sono? Cosa sono quelli?

If you are pointing at a group of objects, you can also ask what is that in Italian with either cosa sono? or cosa sono quelli?.

Quelli means those.

Sono, as you maybe remember thanks to the conjugation table you’ve seen in one of the previous paragraphs, is a present tense conjugation of the verb essere, namely for the third person pronoun loro, they.

For example, you can say…

Cosa sono? – Sono dei semi da piantare nell’orto.
What are those? – They are seeds to be planted in the garden.

Cosa sono quelli? – Penso siano dei moscerini.
What are those? – I think they are gnats.

In Italian, you don’t usually repeat quello or quelli in your answer. To stress a concept, however, you can add them in your sentence as in the example below.

Quelli non sono dei moscerini. Quelli sono dei calabroni!
Those are not gnats. Those are hornets!

People don’t normally ask what is that in Italian using a feminine pronoun, but for the sake of completeness, here are the feminine forms of all the questions we’ve covered:

For example, you can say…

Cos’è quella? – È una tastiera bluetooth.
What is that? – It’s a bluetooth keyboard.

Cosa sono quelle? – Quelle sono delle tende che ho comprato ieri.
What are those? – Those are some curtains I bought yesterday.

Did you know? Cos’è? is also a song from the movie The Nightmare before Christmas! Here you can listen to the Italian dubbing by the famous Italian singer Renato Zero.

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