Answers
May 14, 2012 - 05:34 PM
Hi again! "Che cos'è" means "What is...". For instance:
Che cos'è quello? --- What is that thing?
Che cos'è questo? --- What is this thing?
Che cos'è "la macchina"? --- What is "the car"? (In case you hear "La macchina" or any other word and don't know what it is and want to ask what it is) Che cos'è la rivoluzione francese? ---- What is the French revolution?
So, "Non so che cos'è" would be: "I don't know what X is" (X means anything to which your are referring, should come after "cos'è") (e.g.):
Non so che cos'è quello --- I don't know what that thing is
Non so che cos'è "la macchina" --- I don't know what "the car" (the word "the car") is
Hope it helps!.
Che cos'è quello? --- What is that thing?
Che cos'è questo? --- What is this thing?
Che cos'è "la macchina"? --- What is "the car"? (In case you hear "La macchina" or any other word and don't know what it is and want to ask what it is) Che cos'è la rivoluzione francese? ---- What is the French revolution?
So, "Non so che cos'è" would be: "I don't know what X is" (X means anything to which your are referring, should come after "cos'è") (e.g.):
Non so che cos'è quello --- I don't know what that thing is
Non so che cos'è "la macchina" --- I don't know what "the car" (the word "the car") is
Hope it helps!.
May 14, 2012 - 05:55 PM
oh... nevermind. i think i figured it out.. non so che cos' e= i don't know what it is. :)
May 14, 2012 - 06:06 PM
oh, i didn't see your post before i responded again. (my original post didn't post as a list as intended so it's a bit confusing now). this is totally confusing to me and not making any sense. too much 'che' and 'cos' e' etc. i'm doing the flashcards now and they aren't consistent with the lesson. (I) DON'T KNOW WHAT comes up as NON SO CHE COSA but in my notes from the lesson, I have: NON SO CHE. Wouldn't NON SO CHE COSA mean "I don't know what thing"?? p.s. thanks for your explanations but when you add in more advanced words, etc. it confuses me more. i'm only on lesson 5 of level 2. :) grazie.
May 14, 2012 - 06:15 PM
Exactly!
May 14, 2012 - 06:20 PM
so.. the flashcards are wrong?
May 14, 2012 - 06:41 PM
My mistake, I replied to your 5:55pm post. And sorry for adding more words, I'll keep it as simple as possible. "Non so che" literally means "I don't know what" ... but Italians like adding "Cosa" too, and it's the most frequent way you'll hear it, specially in spoken Italian. So when you don't know something, you will say: "Non so che cosa..." and you'll add usually the verb " È " (is), and whatever it is that you don't know.
Non so che cosa è quello -- I don't know what that is (Literally "I don't know what that thing is").
Just bear in mind that as a Latin language, there will be phrases which don't translate exactly into English. Hope this helps and it's clearer now.
Non so che cosa è quello -- I don't know what that is (Literally "I don't know what that thing is").
Just bear in mind that as a Latin language, there will be phrases which don't translate exactly into English. Hope this helps and it's clearer now.
May 15, 2012 - 08:58 PM
It does help, thanks. i'm also redoing the lesson to grasp it better and it's working. thanks again so much!
May 16, 2012 - 08:55 AM
Sure, no problem! That's a great idea, reviewing the lesson will certainly help. Keep up the good work! In bocca al lupo! (Good luck!)