Che in Italian – what does che mean?

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After pizza and pasta, che in Italian is the most frequently used word. But unlike pasta and pizza, che has many different uses and meanings.

Che in Italian can be a relative pronoun, an interrogative adjective and pronoun, an indefinite adjective and pronoun, a conjunction, an adverb and more. You can translate it as that, who , and can be used as interrogative adjective and pronoun.

Let’s go over each use of che in Italian:

Che as a relative pronoun

The most common use of che in italian is as a relative pronoun. And for those who don’t know grammar like the back of their hand, I will explain simply what is a relative pronoun.

What is a relative pronoun?

Relative pronouns link two sentences, with a common element, together. Relative pronouns also refer to the nouns already mentioned in the sentence. In English these are that, which, who, whom and whose.

Example:

I like the dog that does tricks.

Che as that

Che in italian is the most used relative pronoun.

La ragazza che mi piace si chiama Anna.
The girl that I like is called Anna.

Il ragazzo che mi piace si chiama Marco.
The boy that I like is called Marco.

Be careful: in Italian you can’t omit che like you do in English.

Take a look at the following example:

Il libro che sto leggendo è interessante.
The book I’m reading is interesting

Che as who

che in Italian

I already mentioned that relative pronouns connect two sentences. Che in italian can be both subject and object in the sentences.

Let’s see:

Marco è un mio cugino che vive negli USA.
Marco is my cousin who lives in the USA.

In this sentence, che refers to the subject in the sentence which is Marco.

La ragazza che hai conosciuto ieri è mia sorella.
The girl who you met yesterday is my sister.
In this example, che refers to the object in the sentence which is la ragazza.

before moving on, if you want to learn more about Italian Grammar, here there are useful books I suggest you to read:

il che in italian

But what about il che ? You must have seen it many times in texts in italian.

Let’s take a look at this example:

Hai fatto un buon esame, il che è una conferma del tuo impegno.
You have done well on the exam, which is a confirmation of your commitment.

The relative pronoun che with the definite article il refers to the whole previous sentence.

Voglio smettere di bere, il che non è facile.
I want to stop drinking, which is not easy.

Il che doesn’t refer to the subject, which is io, neither to the object, which is smettere di bere. It refers to the whole sentence, to the fact that this person wants to stop drinking.

Che as an interrogative adjective and pronoun

Che in italian can also be used as an interrogative adjective and pronoun. Don’t let this complex term frighten you! Have you ever heard an Italian ask:

Che vuoi da me?
What do you want from me?

Or

Ma che cavolo dici?
What the heck are you talking about?

If you have, great! You already know what interrogative adjectives and pronouns are.

Let me clarify:

What is an interrogative adjective/pronoun?

The interrogatives are elements used in a sentence to introduce a question. They can be adjectives when they are followed by a noun. They can also be pronouns when they substitute a noun. Che can be both of them. 

Let’s see some examples:

Che as an interrogative adjective

che in Italian

When followed by a noun che in Italian asks for more information about that noun.

Che telefono hai?
What phone do you have?

Che musica preferisci?
What is your favorite music?

Che libro stai leggendo?
What book are you reading?

The interrogative che can be used with a preposition but in that case the preposition must be put before the interrogative.

In che città vivi?
What city do you live in?

Di che libro stai parlando?
What book are you talking about?

Con che programma posso modificare la foto?
What program can I use to edit a photo?

Che as interrogative pronoun

When che is used to replace a pronoun it’s used as an interrogative pronoun. It is also used to ask for information about something.

Che vuoi?
What do you want?

Che succede?
What’s going on?

Che aspetti?
What are you waiting for?

Also in this case a preposition can be used before the interrogative pronoun che.

Con che cosa scrivi?
What do you write with?

Di che parlate?
What are you talking about?

Che as an Indefinite adjective and pronoun

che in Italian

Che in italian can be used as an indefinite adjective and pronoun. It describes an undefined quantity or quality.

Let’s see some examples:

Questo biscotto ha un che di piccante.
This cookie has a bit of a spicy flavor to it.

Non riesco a vedere un gran che.
I can’t see much.

Diciamo che hai un certo non so che, quando sei nervosa.
Let’s say you have a certain level of something when you’re nervous.

Che as a Conjunction

As long as you progress in italian, your vocabulary will expand. With a big quantity of words in your head you will spontaneously start to use more complex structure. Then you’ll use words to link sentences together, called conjunctions, words like and, or, but, that . With them your conversation will sound more fluent.

Let’s see some examples:

Che can link an objective clause to an independent clause (or main clause):

Dice che hai ragione tu
He says that you are right.

Che can introduce a subjective clause and here we may use the indicative or the subjunctive depending on the level of certainty we have:

È ora che tu la smetta
It’s time for you to stop

Here below you will find more uses of che as a conjunction.

Comparative

che in Italian

Che in Italian can be used for comparative, when a comparison is made between two elements that refer to the same subject:

È meglio uscire che starsene in casa
It’s better to go out than stay inside

Che can also be used as a consecutive conjunction:

Sono così stanco che non posso seguirti
I’m so tired that I can’t follow you

Limitation

Che in Italian can introduce limitation and in italian che, in this case, is always followed by subjunctive:

Che io sappia, non esiste
As far as I know, it doesn’t exist.

Time

Che is used as a time conjunction, it can be replaced with quando or in cui:

Il giorno che siamo partiti pioveva
It was raining on the day when we left.

Wishes and commands

che in Italian

Che in Italian is used to introduce wishes and commands:

Spera che non dica niente
hope that she won’t say anything

Exception

Che can have a connotation of exception:

Non ci resta altro che piangere
Nothing left but to cry

Whether

Che in Italian can have a disjunctive connotation and can be translated in English as whether/or

Che lo faccia o meno, è irrelevante.
Whether it does or not is irrelevant.

Che as a Causal conjunction

che in Italian

Another very important use of che in italian is as a causal conjunction. Causal conjunctions are used to explain how things work or why things happen.

Take this as example:

I didn’t have breakfast today, so I am really hungry now! – In this example SO is a causal conjunction.

Che in Italian originates a list of causal conjunctions, meaning  “because/ since/ due to the fact that“:

poiché
giacché
dacché
visto che
dato che

Examples:

Dato che non avevamo più cibo, ho fatto la spesa.
Since we were out of food, I went to the grocery store.

Visto che ti comporti così negativamente, io agirò positivamente!
Since you are acting so negatively, I will act positively!

Scusa, avrei dovuto chiederti il permesso, poiché è casa tua.
Sorry, I should have asked your permission since it’s your house.

Che can also be used alone and still have causal connotation.

Look at these examples:

Scappiamo che crolla!
Let’s run away because it is crumbling!

Dobbiamo andare, che è tardi.
We must leave, because it’s late.

Devo mangiare, che ho fame.
I have to eat, because I’m hungry.

Che as an adverb

che in Italian

I’m sure you already know that Italians are very energetic people. They love to express their feelings, whether their emotions are negative or positive. Therefore in the Italian language, you can find a lot of exclamations.

Mamma mia! – You have heard it a thousand times.

Exclamations are a very important part of the Italian language. They’ll give emphasis to the message you want to convey. When you learn the right way to use exclamations you will sound more local and you’ll be able to express all the shades of your feelings.

Che in exclamations

If you’ve ever been in Italy, you must have heard Ma che bello! on the streets.

Che in italian is often used with a noun, or with an adjective and can be translated in English as What a … !

Let’s see some examples:

If you have a beautiful day, you are happy about it and you want to emphasize that you can say:

Che bella giornata!
What a beautiful day!

In the same way, if you were hoping it would be a nice day but the weather is bad, you could say:

Che brutto tempo!
What awful weather!

It can be followed only by noun:

Che peccato!
What a pity!

Che disordine!
What a mess!

Che avventura!
What an adventure!

Maybe the most common use of che as an exclamation is when is followed by an adjective:

Che bello!
How beautiful!

Che carino!
How nice!

Che brutto!
How awful!

Che buono!
How delicious!

The list goes on and on. It’s very common in Italian to use che this way. Start using it right away and your italian would sound more natural. If you like to learn through music, listen to this song:

As you can see che has a lot of uses! With this information in your mind, you will start to recognize and use che in the right way. Che bella lingua, isn’t it?

Venire Conjugation – use venire in Italian

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Venire Conjugation is surely one of the first one you should know if you want to learn Italian verbs (and verbs that express movement)

Together with fare and andare conjugations, Venire Conjugation is one of the most important in Italian language. Venire is an irregular verb of the third conjugation. Being a verb of movement, we generally apply it in the meaning of heading to, hailing from, descending from, occurring and arising. Venire principally translates the English verb to come.

Examples:

Vieni o no? Il treno sta per partire.
Are you coming or not? The train is about to leave.

Joseph non ci sarà oggi. Gli è venuta la febbre.
Joseph won’t be here today. He got sick.

As you can notice, different ways to translate venire exist in English, mostly looking at the context where it is used.  

Venire Conjugation – Presente

Firstly, it is important to say that the verb venire has an irregular conjugation, hence you need to learn it by heart.

Let’s find out how to conjugate it in the Presente, tense employed to talk about habits or actions that are happening right now:    

Io vengo
Tu vieni
Lui / Lei viene
Noi veniamo
Voi venite
Loro vengono 

Examples:

Viene anche tua figlia a cena?
Is your daughter coming for dinner, too?  

Non venite? Vi stanno aspettando tutti!
Don’t you come? They’re all waiting for you!

Venire Conjugation

Venire Conjugation – Passato Prossimo

Io sono venuto/a
Tu sei venuto/a
Lui / Lei è venuto/a
Noi siamo venuti/e
Voi siete venuti/e
Loro sono venuti/e

You build sentences in the Passato Prossimo, when you make reference to actions that happened in the recent past. Considered as a verb of movement, venire always requires the auxiliary to be. Moreover, the past participle venuto must agree in gender and number.

Examples:

È venuta da sola perché suo marito è a lavoro.
She came alone because her husband is at work.

Non sono venuti in vacanza con noi quest’anno perché abbiamo litigato. 

They didn’t come with us on holiday because we had an argument.

Venire Conjugation – Imperfetto

Io venivo
Tu venivi
Lui / Lei veniva
Noi venivamo
Voi venivate
Loro venivano

You resort to Italian Imperfetto when your intention is to speak about past habits or actions in progress in the past.

Examples:

Quando ero piccolo, zio Gerry veniva sempre a trovarci a Houston.
When I was a child, uncle Gerry always used to come to visit us in Houston.

Mentre venivo qui, ho sentito che Joe ha perso il lavoro.
While I was coming here, I heard Joe lost his job.

Venire Conjugation

Venire Conjugation – Trapassato Prossimo

Io ero venuto/a
Tu eri venuto/a
Lui / Lei era venuto/a
Noi eravamo venuti/e
Voi eravate venuti/e
Loro erano venuti/e

Trapassato Prossimo is primarily required in case you want to report an action that occured before another one in the past. To form it, you need the simple past of essere, along with the past participle of venire.

Examples:

Ma non eri venuto per darci una mano? Non stai facendo nulla!
Hadn’t you come to help us? You’re not doing anything!

Erano venute per dirci che non avrebbero partecipato alla raccolta fondi.
They had come to tell us they wouldn’t participate in the fundraising. 

Venire Conjugation – Passato Remoto

One of the less used tenses in Italian is Passato Remoto. Despite the fact that its formation is quite tricky, it is generally employed when referring to events that happened a long time ago. 

Io venni
Tu venisti
Lui / Lei venne
Noi venimmo
Voi veniste
Loro vennero

Examples:

Dopo aver mangiato tanto, mi venne un forte mal di pancia.
After eating a lot, I got a strong stomach ache. 

Mi vennero dei dubbi in merito a quello che Elena mi raccontò. 
I had some doubts about what Elena told me. 

Venire Conjugation

Venire Conjugation – Trapassato Remoto

Io fui venuto/a
Tu fosti venuto/a
Lui / Lei fu venuto/a
Noi fummo venuti/e
Voi foste venuti/e
Loro furono venuti/e

Italian Trapassato Remoto has almost disappeared in the spoken language, while in the written language it basically occurs in documentaries, literature and novels. Being a compound tense, it is formed by the auxiliary conjugated in the Passato Remoto and the past participle of venire.   

Examples:

Dopo che furono venuti a casa mia, decisero di rimanere a pranzo.
After they had come to my place, they decided to stay for lunch.

Dopo che fu venuta al locale, ci disse che se ne sarebbe andata dopo un pò.
After she had come to the club, she told us that she would leave after a while.   

Venire Conjugation – Futuro Semplice

You are suggested to apply Italian Futuro in case you want to talk about facts that have yet to happen (Futuro Semplice) or an event that will be finished before another one takes place (Futuro Anteriore). 

Io verrò
Tu verrai
Lui / Lei verrà
Noi verremo
Voi verrete
Loro verranno

Examples:

A che ora verranno Jasmine e le sue figlie questa sera?
What time are Jasmine and her daughters coming this evening? 

Verrà il giorno in cui mi ringrazierai per quello che ho fatto per te.
There will come a day when you thank me for what I’ve done for you. 

Venire Conjugation

Venire Conjugation – Futuro Anteriore

Io sarò venuto/a
Tu sarai venuto/a
Lui / Lei sarà venuto/a
Noi saremo venuti/e
Voi sarete venuti/e
Loro saranno venuti/e

Examples:

Saranno già venuti? Non siamo ancora pronti!
Will they have come? We are not ready yet!

Sarà venuto qui per chiedergli altri soldi? Mi auguro di no.  
Will he have come here to ask him for other money? I hope not.

Venire Conjugation – Congiuntivo Presente

Unfortunately, Italian Congiuntivo is considered as a vanishing mood because its use is less and less frequent in everyday language.

Anyway, its main feature is the conjunction che preceding the conjugated verb. Furthermore, the simple and compound tenses of Congiuntivo can be translated with the tenses of present and past simple.      

Che io venga
Che tu venga
Che lui / lei venga
Che noi veniamo
Che voi veniate
Che loro vengano

Examples:

La mamma vuole che veniamo anche noi in gita.
Mum wants us to go on the trip, too.

Temo che vengano solo per perdere tempo e non lavorare.
I fear that they just come to waste their time so as not to work.

Venire Conjugation – Congiuntivo Passato

Che io sia venuto/a
Che tu sia venuto/a
Che lui / lei sia venuto/a
Che noi siamo venuti/e
Che voi siate venuti/e
Che loro siano venuti/e

Examples:

Spero che sia venuta per porre rimedio ai suoi problemi.
I hope she came to find a solution to her problems. 

Nonostante siano venuti per aiutarla, non li ha ancora perdonati.
Although they came to help her, she still hasn’t forgiven them.

Venire Conjugation

Venire Conjugation – Congiuntivo Imperfetto

Che io venissi
Che tu venissi
Che lui / lei venisse
Che noi venissimo
Che voi veniste
Che loro venissero

Examples:

Mi farebbe molto piacere se venissi anche tu con me in Inghilterra.
I would be very pleased if you came with me to England, too.

Credevo che Michael venisse dal Canada. Invece viene dagli Stati Uniti.
I thought Michael came from Canada. On the contrary, he comes from USA.

Venire Conjugation – Congiuntivo Trapassato

Che io fossi venuto/a
Che tu fossi venuto/a
Che lui / lei fosse venuto/a
Che noi fossimo venuti/e
Che voi foste venuti/e
Che loro fossero venuti/e

Examples:

Pensavo che Rachel fosse venuta per scusarsi.
I thought Rachel had come to apologize.

Vorrei che fossero venute al cinema con noi.
I wish they had come with us to the cinema.

Venire Conjugation – Condizionale Presente

You make use of Italian Condizionale in case you need to express wishes, intentions, hypotheses and polite requests.

Io verrei
Tu verresti
Lui / Lei verrebbe
Noi verremmo
Voi verreste
Loro verrebbero

Examples:

Verresti al concerto dei Maroon 5 insieme a me?
Would you come with me to the Maroon 5 show?

Se avessero tempo verrebbero con noi in montagna. 
If they had time, they would come with us to the mountains.

Venire Conjugation

Venire Conjugation – Condizionale Passato

Io sarei venuto/a
Tu saresti venuto/a
Lui / Lei sarebbe venuto/a 
Noi saremmo venuti/e
Voi sareste venuti/e
Loro sarebbero venuti/e

Examples:

I miei genitori mi hanno detto che sarebbero venuti a trovarmi presto.
My parents told me they would come to visit me soon.

Nessuno ci ha avvisato che sareste venuti con i vostri amici.
No one told me you were coming with your friends. 

Venire Conjugation – Imperativo

Imperativo is the tense of orders, instructions, suggestions and advice. Being an irregular verb, venire has its own forms, too. 

Vieni (tu)
Venga (lui/lei)
Veniamo (noi)
Venite (voi)
Vengano (loro)

Examples:

Vieni qui subito! Devo parlarti.
Come here immediately! I need to talk to you.

Venite con me! Vi faccio fare un giro della casa.
Come with me! I’ll show you around.

Venire Conjugation – Infinito

Present tense Past tense
venire essere venuto / venuta / venuti / venute

Examples:

Venire a patti con uomo del genere potrebbe essere rischioso.
Reaching an agreement with a man like that might be risky. 

Sono davvero contento di essere venuto con voi in Francia.
I’m really glad to have come with you to France.     

Venire Conjugation

Venire Conjugation – Participio

Present tense Past tense
veniente venuto / venuta / venuti / venute

Examples:

Sono rimasti svegli tutta la notte per vedere l’alba del giorno veniente.
They stayed up all night to see the dawn of the coming day.  

Tutti stavano aspettando la sua venuta.
Everybody was awaiting her coming. 

Note that the present and the past tense of Italian Participio can be mainly found as nouns or adjectives in literary texts, therefore their use is relatively restricted to specific circumstances.    

Venire Conjugation – Gerundio

As for the Congiuntivo, Gerundio is another tense Italians don’t really apply very often, too. Anyway, you can find it in sentences in the present progressive.  

Present tense Past tense
venendo essendo venuto / venuta / venuti / venute

Examples:

Venendo dalla campagna è abituato a stare a contatto con la natura.
Coming from the countryside, he is used to being in contact with nature.

Essendo venuti in ritardo, non hanno trovato un posto dove sedersi. 
Having come late, they didn’t find a place to sit. 

At the end of this article, you should be able to conjugate and use venire properly. 

Allora, quando vieni in Italia?