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

Posso dirti una cosa?

POHS-soh DEER-tee OO-nah KO-sa

[POHS-soh DEER-tee OO-nah KO-sa]

💬 Usage Tip: ti "you" attaches to the end of dire, which drops its final e: dirti. Same with chiederti "ask you" and offrirti "offer you".

Phrase Breakdown

Posso dirti

POHS-soh DEER-tee

Can I tell you

'Posso' (I can) + 'dirti' (to tell you). Hold the double 's' in 'posso': POS-so DEER-tee.

Example

Posso dirti un segreto?

Can I tell you a secret?

Words in this phrase

Posso

[POHS-soh]

can I / may I

A polite way to ask permission to say or ask something.

Example

Posso chiedere se avete un menu speciale?

May I ask if you have a special menu?

dirti

[DEER-tee]

tell you

Infinitive 'dire' (to say/tell) joined with 'ti' (to you).

Example

Voglio dirti un segreto.

I want to tell you a secret.

una cosa?

OO-nah KO-sa

something? / one thing?

'Una cosa' means 'a thing'. Here it means 'something'. Let your voice rise at the end for the question: OO-na KO-za?

Example

Ti chiedo una cosa.

Let me ask 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.

Guides for Italian learners

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