che cosa fa? or che cosa fai?

2

@ Elizabeth

- What are you doing?

Translation for 2nd person singular

Che cosa fai?
[ Informal - Present Tense - 2nd person singular ]

Che cosa stai facendo?
[ Informal - Present tense progressive - 2nd person singular ]

Che cosa fa?
[ Formal - Present tense - 3rd person singular ]

Che cosa sta facendo?
[ Formal - Present tense progressive - 3rd person singular ]

- What is he doing?

Che cosa fa?
[ Informal - Present tense ]

Che cosa sta facendo?
[ Informal - Present tense progressive ]

- What did you do?

Translation for 2nd person singular.
I'm omitting the Passato remoto tense version because it's less and less used.

Che cosa hai fatto?
[ Informal - Passato prossimo tense ]

Che cosa ha fatto?
[ Formal - Passato prossimo tense ]

2

Yes, "Che cosa fa?" and "Che cosa sta facendo?" have (almost) the same meaning.
They're not the exact same thing, but we often use the present instead of the present progressive.

---

- What are you doing? [ Singular ]

(Che) cosa fai? [ Non-progressive form - Informal ]
(Che) cosa stai facendo? [ Progressive form - Informal ]

(Che) cosa fa? [ Non-progressive form - Formal - Uses 3rd person singular of "stare" ]
(Che) cosa sta facendo? [ Progressive form - Formal - Uses 3rd person singular of "stare" ]

- What is she/he doing?

(Che) cosa fa? [ Non-progressive form ]
(Che) cosa sta facendo? [ Progressive form ]

- What are we doing?

(Che) cosa facciamo? [ Non-progressive form ]
(Che) cosa stiamo facendo? [ Progressive form ]

- What are you doing? [ Plural ]

(Che) cosa fate? [ Non-progressive form ]
(Che) cosa state facendo? [ Progressive form ]

- What are they doing?

(Che) cosa fanno? [ Non-progressive form ]
(Che) cosa stanno facendo? [ Progressive form ]

---

Fare [ Present ]

(Io) faccio
(Tu) fai
(Egli/Ella) fa
(Noi) facciamo
(Voi) fate
(Essi/Esse) fanno

Note: "Fare" is an "-ere" verb, not "-are", because it comes from the latin verb "Facere". ;)

1

"Che cosa fa?" is also 3rd person singular.

0

Che cosa fa? this is used formally whereas che cosa fai? is informal the second person singular. In response to this you would say , Non faccio niente/nulla

0

But does it mean "what are you doing?" or "what did you do?" How is "che cosa fa" used?

0

Another thing. "Che" can be omitted.

0

Thank you a big bunch Salvatore you nailed the answer...

0

;)

0

@Eli
Not at all! :-)

0

Grazie a tutti per L'aiuto.


Kokoa

0

molto bene Sal ancora grazie dell'aiuto :) sempre correggi il mio Italiano, male

0

Felicissimo di essere stato d'aiuto! ;)

BTW, it's:

"Correggi sempre il mio italiano sbagliato." ;-P

0

grazie!!! grazie!!! :)

0

Prego. :)

-1

To make sure I understand this both "Che cosa fa?" and "Che cosa sta facendo?" are informal and they both mean "What is he doing?" If I am wrong can you please conjugate "fare" for me.
What are you doing
what is she/he doing
what are we doing
what are you (plural) doing
what are they doing
sometimes this helps me understand in a different way. thanks