{"id":7351,"date":"2014-10-02T08:33:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-02T08:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=7351"},"modified":"2014-10-02T17:35:36","modified_gmt":"2014-10-02T17:35:36","slug":"whos-who","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/whos-who\/","title":{"rendered":"Who’s Who?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve often noticed that English speakers who are learning Italian tend to mistakenly use chi<\/font> <\/strong>instead of che<\/font><\/strong>. Of course, they look and sound very similar, and English to Italian dictionaries tend to give chi<\/font> as the primary translation for who. If only it were that simple! Today we\u2019re going to look at the difference between these two little words with practical examples:<\/p>\n

1. chi?<\/strong> = who?<\/u><\/font> is a pronome interrogativo<\/strong><\/font> (interrogative pronoun), and is used when asking questions, either directly or indirectly:<\/p>\n

chi<\/font> ha rotto il vaso?<\/strong> = who<\/font> broke the vase?
Pronto? Chi<\/font> parla?<\/strong> = Hello? Who<\/font>\u2019s speaking?
lo sapete chi<\/font> ha vinto la gara di motociclismo?<\/strong> = do you know who<\/font> won the bike race?
chi<\/font> l\u2019avrebbe mai detto!<\/strong> = who<\/font> would have ever thought!
mi piacerebbe sapere chi<\/font> ha fatto questa ottima torta di mele<\/strong> = I\u2019d like to know who<\/font> made this delicious apple cake<\/p>\n

\"torta\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

2. chi<\/strong> = those who, the person who, he who<\/u> i<\/font><\/font>s a pronome indeterminato<\/strong> (indefinite pronoun), and is used to describe a generic person, especially in proverbs and sayings:<\/p>\n

chi<\/font> perde paga da bere a tutti<\/strong> = he<\/font> who<\/font> loses buys a drink for everyone
chi<\/font> vivr\u00e0, vedr\u00e0<\/strong> = he<\/font> who<\/font> lives, will see, meaning: time will tell
chi<\/font> sa non fa, chi <\/font>fa non sa <\/strong>= those who<\/font> know don\u2019t do, those who<\/font> do don\u2019t know
chi<\/font> dorme non piglia pesci<\/strong> = he who<\/font> sleeps doesn’t catch any fish, meaning: the early bird catches the worm<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"kingfisher\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Photo (CC) by <\/strong><\/em><\/font>andy li<\/strong><\/em><\/font><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

chi<\/font><\/strong> is also used in definitions, e.g.:
allenatore: chi<\/font> per professione allena singoli atleti o squadre o animali da competizione<\/strong> = trainer: a person who<\/font> professionally trains single athletes or teams or animals for competitions<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3. che<\/strong> = who, which, that<\/font><\/font><\/u> is a pronome relativo<\/strong> (relative pronoun), and is used to introduce a new sentence by relating to a word in the first sentence:<\/p>\n

questo \u00e8 il regalo per zio Luciano, che<\/font> ritorna domani dalla Sardegna<\/strong> = this is the present for uncle Luciano, who<\/font>\u2019s coming back from Sardinia tomorrow
conosco un ragazzo che<\/font> suona molto bene la chitarra<\/strong> = I know a guy who<\/font> plays the guitar very well
questo \u00e8 il maglione che<\/font> mi ha fatto mia nonna<\/strong> = this is the jumper that<\/font> my grandma made for me
ecco la gattina che<\/font> abbiamo salvato tre settimane fa<\/strong> = here\u2019s the kitten which<\/font> we saved three weeks ago
Annalisa \u00e8 andata a Milano a trovare sua mamma che<\/font> non sta bene<\/strong> = Annalisa went to Milan to visit her mother who<\/font>\u2019s not feeling well.<\/p>\n

N.B.<\/strong> the relative pronoun che<\/font><\/strong> can be substituted by il quale<\/strong>, la quale<\/strong>, i quali<\/strong>, le quali<\/strong><\/font>. If you need to revise relative pronouns and when to use il quale<\/font><\/strong> instead of che<\/font><\/strong>, you can read THIS POST<\/font><\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Remember<\/strong>: the word che<\/font><\/strong> has many other different uses, e.g. what<\/font> (che<\/font> lavoro fai?<\/strong> = what<\/font> is your job?), that<\/font> (dicono che<\/font> domani piover\u00e0<\/strong> = they say that<\/font> it will rain tomorrow).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

I\u2019ve often noticed that English speakers who are learning Italian tend to mistakenly use chi instead of che. Of course, they look and sound very similar, and English to Italian dictionaries tend to give chi as the primary translation for who. If only it were that simple! Today we\u2019re going to look at the difference…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":7383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[229117],"class_list":["post-7351","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grammar","tag-italian-pronouns"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7351"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7386,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7351\/revisions\/7386"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}