"Che cos'è popolare?"
Translation:What is popular?
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From "A Reference Grammar of Modern Italian" (Maiden and Robusttelli, 2000, p. 143) "che" and "cosa" and "che cosa" all three mean "what" in English. You see "cosa" more in the north and "che" more in the south, but there's little difference between them.
So you can think of "che cosa" as a single word that means "what" and think of "che" or "cosa" as abbreviations of that. (Che actually has a few restrictions when used alone, but let's not go there.)
According to google translate (not the best source to use) "cosa" as a noun means "thing". However, I think "what thing" is apart of "che cosa" and "che cos'è". Thing is omitted because it's already assumed that you're asking about a something. So in essence "che cos'è populare" should really be "what (known or unknown 'thing') is popular"
Of course I could be wrong because my command of the Italian language is between novice and intermediate at best, yet It does make sense though.
Most of the discussions here are about the same "cosa" haha! So how would someone ask, "what thing is popular?" --> "Che cosa cos'e populare?"NOPE! In spanish "Que cosa es popular?" would literally translate to "what thing is popular?" and if you wanted to say "what is popular you would ask, "Que es popular o quizas qual es mas popular de todo, todo depende en que lo que quieres comunicar." Literal translation versus intended translation, I don't think it's wrong to translate things literally. Cause the goal here is not to learn english, but to learn italian, and it helps to learn it literally with the knowledge that you wouldn't use it necessarily in that form in english.
1751
popolare applies to singular nouns
è is singular as well
A plural form would be - che cose sono popolari?
207
Reminds me of King George III and, true or not, his "What what" expressions. "We mustn't accept a visitor what what."
195
Where did I go wrong in my answer «ché cosa è popolare?» BECAUSE in the previous question the answer was «cosa è popolare» ? Is it that when ''che'' and ''cosa'' are together and followed by ''è'' there's a change in meaning or function?