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How to Say ‘Can I ask you something?’ in Italian

Posso chiederti una cosa?

POHS-soh kyeh-DEHR-tee OO-nah KO-sa

[POHS-soh kyeh-DEHR-tee OO-nah KO-sa]

💬 Usage Tip: ti "you" attaches to the end of chiedere, which drops its final e: chiederti. Same with dirti "tell you" and aiutarti "help you".

Phrase Breakdown

Posso chiederti

POHS-soh kyeh-DEHR-tee

Can I ask you

'Chiederti' means 'to ask you'. 'Chie' sounds like 'kye': KIÈ-der-ti.

Example

Posso chiederti un favore?

Can I ask you a favor?

Words in this phrase

Posso

[POHS-soh]

I can

First-person singular of potere; expresses ability or possibility.

Example

Posso aiutarti dopo l'evento.

I can help you after the event.

chiederti

[kyeh-DEHR-tee]

to ask you

Infinitive 'chiedere' (to ask) joined to 'ti' (you, informal).

Example

Voglio chiederti un favore.

I want to ask you a favor.

una cosa?

OO-nah KO-sa

something?

Word for word this is 'a thing'. Use a rising question tone.

Example

Ti dico una cosa.

I'll tell you something.

Words in this phrase

una

[OO-nah]

Feminine singular indefinite article before a feminine noun.

Example

Ho lavorato in una piccola azienda.

I worked in a small company.

cosa

[KO-sa]

Thing

An object, item, or matter.

Example

Questa cosa è molto interessante.

This thing is very interesting.

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