Italian - English Dictionary
/ˈke/
Che is one of the most common Italian words, functioning as a conjunction (that), relative pronoun (who, which, that), interrogative pronoun (what?), and other parts of speech depending on context.
| # | Type | Italian | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | conjunction | che connecting a noun clause | that |
| 2 | determiner | che beginning an exclamation | what |
| 3 | pronoun | che what? (interrogative pronoun) | what |
| 4 | preposition | che Introduces a comparison | than |
| 5 | pronoun | che which | that |
| 6 | conjunction | che solely, only, merely (obsolete) | but |
| 7 | adverb | che used as a modifier to indicate surprise, delight, or other strong feelings — see also what, so | how |
| 8 | pronoun | che who (relative pronoun) | who |
| 9 | determiner | che (relative) designating the one(s) mentioned | which |
| 10 | pronoun | che (relative) who, whom, what | which |
| 11 | phrase | che Translations | the fact that |
| 12 | determiner | che informal: remarkable | some |
| 13 | pronoun | che | what; which |
| 14 | pronoun | che | who, whom, which, that |
| 15 | conjunction | che | that |
| 16 | conjunction | che | than |
| 17 | conjunction | che | when |
| 18 | conjunction | che | let, may |
| 19 | determiner | che | some (a remarkable); what (intensifier to begin a sentence) |
| 20 | conjunction | che | proscribed spelling of ché |
Credo che tu abbia ragione.
I think that you are right.
La persona che mi ha chiamato era mia madre.
The person who called me was my mother.
Che cosa stai facendo?
What are you doing?
Che as a conjunction introducing a noun clause is extremely frequent and often cannot be omitted in Italian, unlike 'that' in English. As a relative pronoun, che covers who, whom, which and that, replacing the need for multiple English pronouns. In questions, che cosa (literally 'what thing') is more common than che alone for asking 'what?'
Source: Wiktionary · CC BY-SA 4.0