cosa

thing; matter

noun KOH-zah Common

Origin: Latin causa (cause, thing)

Also means

what (interrogative)

Usage Note

Cosa is feminine — la cosa, le cose. In speech it doubles as an interrogative pronoun meaning 'what': cosa vuoi? (what do you want?), fully interchangeable with che cosa or che. The phrase nessuna cosa is rarer than niente or nulla for 'nothing'. Per prima cosa (first of all) is a handy discourse phrase.

Examples

"Ho dimenticato una cosa importante."

Natural Translation

I forgot an important thing.

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