8 Quale?
Quale means ‘which’ (or sometimes ‘what’). It is used either as an adjective or
as a pronoun, and therefore agrees with the noun it refers to: quale, ‘which
(one)’, quali, ‘which (ones)’. The use of quale rather than che usually implies
that there is a choice, as for example if there are some books lying on the
table: Quale libro leggi? ‘Which book are you reading?’:
*Qual (without an apostrophe) is used before the forms of essere starting
with a vowel; used in this way, it sometimes means ‘what’ rather than ‘which’.
9 As is seen in some of the examples in paragraphs 2, 3, 4 and 7, cosa, che
cosa, come, dove and quanto can also be shortened before the forms of essere
starting with a vowel, becoming cos’, che cos’, com’, dov’ and quant’ (all with
an apostrophe):
Quale canzone preferisci?
Quali esercizi facciamo?
Quali sono i tuoi libri?
‘Compro due giornali.’ ‘Quali?’
Qual è la canzone più famosa?*
Qual è il Suo indirizzo/numero di
telefono?*Which song do you prefer?
Which exercises are we doing?
Which are your books?
‘I’m buying two papers.’ ‘Which ones?’
Which/What is the best-known song?
What’s your address/phone number?Cos’era quel rumore?
Che cos’è successo?
Com’era lo spettacolo?
Dov’è la stazione?
Quant’è costato?What was that noise?
What happened?
How was the show?
Where is the station?
How much did it cost?