LingoDrop
Italian · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "cosa" in Italian?
KAW-zah, with an open "aw" vowel and the s voiced into a "z" sound. In IPA: /ˈkɔ.za/.
Two syllables, co and sa, with the stress on the first — but the spelled "s" in the middle is voiced, so it sounds like a z, not the s it looks like.
Listen: cosa
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Sound it out
The spelling hides one real surprise: between two vowels, standard Italian s is usually voiced, turning into a z sound even though the letter never changes — a rule with no equivalent in English spelling.
Hear it in a sentence
Cosa vuoi bere?
What do you want to drink?
Listen: Cosa vuoi bere?
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"Cosa vuoi bere?" uses "cosa" as the interrogative "what," interchangeable here with the shorter "che" or the fuller "che cosa" — all three are common in everyday speech with essentially the same meaning. "Vuoi," the "tu" form of "volere" (to want), plus an infinitive is the standard way to offer someone a choice.
Placed at the very start of the sentence, "cosa" signals a question is coming before the listener even reaches the verb, similar to how English fronts its question words.
Where English speakers slip
The most common mistake is keeping the s fully voiceless, the way it's spelled, and saying something closer to "KAW-sah." Standard Italian voices an s that falls between two vowels, so "cosa" comes out with a z sound in the middle — English spelling gives no warning that this happens.
The second slip is closing the o too much, treating it like the o in "note" rather than the more open vowel of English "saw" or "caught" — "cosa" wants that more open quality, not the tighter, rounder o found in words like "come" or "con."