The Italian word for “something” is qualcosa.
It’s one of those basic words you’ll hear and use all the time in Italy.
In this post, you’ll learn how you can use “something” in Italian in lots of everyday phrases.
How to Say “Something” in Italian
Qualcosa in Italian is pronounced: kwal-KOH-zah
Here are a couple of ways you might use it:
Cerco qualcosa per mia nipote. -I’m looking for something for my granddaughter.
Prendo qualcosa dal mercato per cena. -I’m getting something from the market for dinner.
Qualcosa Can Also Mean “Anything”
When you’re in Italy, you might want to ask questions like:
Avete qualcosa di vegetariano? -Do you (plural) have anything vegetarian?
Or:
Avete qualcosa di analcolico? -Do you (plural) have anything non-alcoholic?
Italian doesn’t have a separate word for “anything”. So often, when you’re asking a question like the ones above, you just use qualcosa.
So now you know that qualcosa can mean “something” and “anything” in Italian, you get two words for the price of one 😄.
Qualcosa da and qualcosa di in Italian
Qualcosa da
If you’re going out to eat in Italy, you might hear the waiter say:
Volete qualcosa da bere? - Would you (plural) like something to drink?
Volete qualcosa da mangiare? -Would you (plural) like (lit. want) something to eat?
When you’re saying “something to” in Italian, like “something to eat” ( qualcosa da mangiare ) or “something to drink” (qualcosa da bere ), we add this little word da.
You always add da after qualcosa if the next word is a verb (or doing word), like bere and mangiare . Here are some other examples:
Posso prendere qualcosa da portare via? -Can I get something to take away?
C'è qualcosa da vedere qui vicino? -Is there something to see nearby?
Porto qualcosa da leggere. -I'll bring something to read.
C'è qualcosa da vedere a teatro? -Is there anything to see at the theatre?
Qualcosa di
If you’re eating out in Italy, you might want to say:
Avete qualcosa di vegetariano? -Do you have anything vegetarian?
Vorrei qualcosa di tipico. -I’d like something typical.
You always add di after qualcosa if the next word is an adjective (or describing word), like vegetariano or tipico .
Here are some other examples:
Vorrei qualcosa di dolce. -I'd like something sweet.
Vorrei qualcosa di amaro. -I'd like something bitter.
Cerco qualcosa di locale. -I'm looking for something local.
Mangiamo qualcosa di leggero stasera? -Shall we eat something light this evening?
More Phrases with Qualcosa in Italian
Here’s how you might use or hear qualcosa in some more everyday Italian phrases.
| Volete qualcos'altro? | Would you (plural) like (lit. want) anything else? | Voh-LEH-teh kwal-koh-ZAHL-troh |
| Vuoi qualcosa? | Do you want something? | VWOY kwal-KOH-zah |
| Cerca qualcosa in particolare? | Are you (formal) looking for something in particular? | CHER-kah qual-KOH-zah een par-tee-coh-LAH-reh? |
| Avete qualcosa senza glutine? | Do you (plural) have anything gluten-free? | Ah-VEH-teh kwal-KOH-zah SEN-tsah gloo-TEE-neh |
| C'è qualcosa che mi consiglia? | Is there something you (formal) recommend? | Cheh kwal-KOH-zah keh mee kon-SEE-lyah? |
| Avete qualcosa per il mal di testa? | Do you (plural) have anything for a headache? | Ah-VEH-teh kwal-KOH-zah pehr eel mahl dee TEH-stah |
| C'è qualcosa per i bambini? | Is there anything for children? | Cheh kwal-KOH-zah pehr ee bam-BEE-nee |
| Fai qualcosa per l’estate? | Are you doing anything for the summer? | Fye kwal-KOH-zah pehr leh-STA-teh? |
| Fai qualcosa per capodanno? | Are you doing anything for New Year? | Fye kwal-KOH-zah pehr kah-poh-DAHN-noh? |
| Posso fare qualcosa per aiutare? | Can I do anything to help? | POHS-soh FAH-reh kwal-KOH-zah pehr ah-yoo-TAH-reh? |
Something in Italian: How to Say It and Everyday Phrases: Review
-
Qualcosa is the Italian word for "something".
For example:
Prendo qualcosa dal mercato per cena . -I'm getting something from the market for dinner.
-
Qualcosa can also mean “anything” in Italian.
For example:
Avete qualcosa di vegetariano? -Do you have anything vegetarian?
-
You use qualcosa da when the next word is a verb.
For example:
Porto qualcosa da leggere. -I’ll bring something to read.
-
But if you're describing the "something" with an adjective, you use qualcosa di instead.
For example:
Mangiamo qualcosa di leggero? -Shall we eat something light?
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti! Hi everyone and welcome to Learn Italian with Joy of Languages.
In today’s episode, you’ll learn some everyday Italian phrases with the word “something” that you can use on your next trip to Italy.
But before we get started, can we ask you a quick favore ? If you’re listening to this on your podcast app, could you click the subscribe or follow button? This way you’ll get notified when we release a new episode and you’ll help our podcast grow so we can keep making free lessons like this. Grazie !
So the word in Italian for “something” is:
M: Qualcosa (x2).
K: Just a little note on the pronunciation for the end of the word. Cosa , which means “thing” in Italian, is spelt c-o-s-a, but you say s more like a z sound.
So to hear that ending again it’s:
M: Qualcosa (x2)
K: If you’re eating out in Italy, the waiter might ask you:
M: Volete qualcosa da bere? - would you (plural) like something to drink? Literally:
Volete - you (plural) want
Qualcosa - something
Da - to
Bere - drink
Volete qualcosa da bere?
K: In Italian, there’s a “you” plural that you use any time you’re speaking to two or more people. So if a waiter is talking to you and the other people on your table, they’ll use the “you” plural. Volete.
M: And you heard how the waiter said da bere, to drink. You might recognize the word da as meaning “from” in Italian, like if you said il treno parte da Milano , the train leaves from Milan. But in other contexts, like this one, da is more like saying “to” in English.
K: This might feel confusing, but if you memorise the expression “qualcosa da”, it will start to feel easier. Qualcosa is always followed by “da”, when we need to say what do with the thing, for example, something to drink.
M: Qualcosa da bere (x2).
K: Or the waiter might check if you want something to eat. How would you say “something to eat”?
M: Qualcosa da mangiare
K: And to ask, do you want something to eat?
M: Volete qualcosa da mangiare? - Do you (plural) want something to eat? Literally:
Volete - do you (plural) want
Qualcosa - something
Da - to
Mangiare - eat
Volete qualcosa da mangiare?
K: So we’ve got something to drink.
M: Qualcosa da bere
K: And something to eat
M: Qualcosa da mangiare
K: Now, things are going to get a little more complicated! Listen to the next useful phrase. A question you might want to ask a waiter.
M: Avete qualcosa di tipico? - Do you (plural) have anything typical?
Avete - Do you (plural) have
Qualcosa - something
Di - of
Tipico - typical
K: One bit of good news. In Italian, something and anything are the same, always “qualcosa”. So that’s one less thing to learn!
M: So, to hear the question “do you (plural) have anything typical” again, it’s avete qualcosa di tipico?
M: It might seem confusing that before you heard qualcosa da , as in qualcosa da bere, “something to drink” , and now, when we say qualcosa di tipico, we’re using another little word that sounds very similar: di.
K: There is a rule here to help, but if all of the rules seem confusing for now, don’t worry. It’s perfectly fine to just learn the phrases as they are and start using them in Italy. But if you’re curious, you use da in sentences like: qualcosa da bere, qualcosa da mangiare , because bere and mangiare are verbs, words that say what we do: we drink, we eat. But you use di in sentences like: qualcosa di tipico , or qualcosa di locale because locale e tipico are adjectives, words which describe what things are like. It’s local, it’s typical.
M: So to hear the phrase again, it’s: qualcosa di tipico (x2) .
K: Or you might want to ask a waiter if they have something vegetarian. Which in Italian would be:
M: Avete qualcosa di vegetariano? Do you have anything vegetarian? Literally:
Avete - do you (plural) have
Qualcosa - something
Di - of
Vegetariano - vegetarian
K: And again, because vegetariano is an adjective, a word that describes what the food is like, we say di.
M: Avete qualcosa di vegetariano (x2)
Now that you’ve heard a few phrases with “something” in Italian , let’s see what you can remember.
First of all, what’s the word for “something” in Italian?
[...]
M: Qualcosa (x2)
K: And how would you say “something to drink?” . For example, a waiter might say “do you want something to drink?”
[...]
M: Qualcosa da bere (x2) . For example, volete qualcosa da bere?
K: And what about “something to eat”? A waiter could say this too if they said “do you want something to eat?”
[...]
M: Qualcosa da mangiare (x2) . For example, volete qualcosa da mangiare?
K: And what about “anything typical”? It literally means “something of typical”. For example, you could ask the waiter “do you (plural) have anything typical?”
[...]
M: Qualcosa di tipico (x2) . For example, you could say avete qualcosa di tipico?
K: And lastly, what about “anything vegetarian?” Again, you’d literally say “something of vegetarian”. For example, you could ask the waiter “do you have anything vegetarian?”
[...]
M: Qualcosa di vegetariano (x2) . For example, avete qualcosa di vegetariano?
K: We’ve given you a few phrases with qualcosa, but there are some more phrases that you can hear and use in Italy that we haven’t shared here, like “is there something to see nearby”, or “is there something you recommend?” . It’s not a super long list, just the phrases that we think will be useful to you to know for Italy.
M: If you go to our website, you can see all the phrases in one place, just click the link in the description to head over to our website, or go to italian.joyoflanguages.com/podcast and search for episode 238.
K: And just a quick note before we go – we’ll be taking a break in August while we take some time off and get ready for the new term of our Online Italian School starting in September. So there won’t be the usual new blogpost and podcast episodes. In the meantime, you might find it useful to catch up on any podcast episodes you might have missed. You could also take a look at our YouTube playlist for your level—you’ll find the link in the podcast description.
M: We hope you all have a lovely summer and we’ll see you when we’re back!
K: See you next time.
M: Or as you now know we say in Italian:
Alla prossima!
Time to check your understanding and remember everything you just learned! Below you’ll find a mini-quiz and some vocabulary cards to help it all go in.
Quiz: Something in Italian
How much did you learn? Find out in the quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: Something in Italian
Vocabulary
Volete qualcos'altro? = Do you (plural) want something else?
C'è qualcosa da vedere qui vicino? = Is there something to see nearby?
C'è qualcosa che mi consiglia? = Is there something you (formal) recommend?
Avete qualcosa per il mal di testa? = Do you (plural) have something for a headache?
Fai qualcosa per l'estate? = Are you doing anything for the summer?
Fai qualcosa per Capodanno? = Are you doing anything for New Year?
Volete qualcosa da bere? = Do you (plural) want something to drink?
Volete qualcosa da mangiare? = Do you (plural) want something to eat?
Avete qualcosa di tipico? = Do you (plural) have something typical?
Avete qualcosa di vegetariano? = Do you (plural) have something vegetarian?
Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial
