How to Use “Sia + Sia” in Italian (or How to say “BOTH pasta AND pizza sound good”)

I use BOTH Learn Italian with Lucrezia AND The Iceberg Project to help me learn Italian.

How do you say that sentence in Italian?

This is BOTH a simple AND useful piece of grammar. (See what I did there? Yeah, I’m being extra cheesy today.)

When you want to stress that there are two options, you can use this structure:

                  Sia + some noun/full verb + sia + some other noun/full verb

Esempi:

— Devo imparare come usare SIA le preposizioni SIA i pronomi in italiano. – I need to learn how to use BOTH prepositions AND pronouns in Italian.

— Dobbiamo sia mangiare sia prepararci prima di uscire per andare al cinema, non so se faremo in tempo. – We need BOTH to eat AND to prepare ourselves to go out for going to the movies, I don’t know if we’ll make it in time.

— Questa app è disponibile SIA per l’Iphone SIA per l’Android. – This app is available for BOTH iPhone AND Android.

— Ho telefonato SIA a Paola SIA a Giulia, perché avevo bisogno di chiedere loro dei consigli. – I called BOTH Paola AND Giulia because I needed their advice.

— Sia la Spagna che ha vinto, sia l’Italia che ha perso sono due squadre forti. – BOTH Spain that has won, AND Italy that has lost, are two strong teams.

— SIA Mario SIA Francesco mi hanno chiesto di uscire stasera. – BOTH Mario AND Francesco asked me to go out tonight.

— Vanno bene SIA la pizza SIA la pasta. – BOTH pizza AND pasta sound good.

“Sia + sia” can also express “Whether (this), OR (that), the result is still the same.”

In this case though, you need to add one extra word:

         Sia che + some noun/verb + sia che + some other noun/verb

If you use a verb, it must be conjugated in the subjunctive mood. If you haven’t learned that tense yet or need to review, you can read this article.

Esempi:

— SIA CHE tu faccia una vacanza in Scozia, SIA CHE tu vada in Canada, fa sempre freddo. – Whether you take a vacation in Scotland OR you go to Canada, it will still be cold.

— SIA CHE tu voglia mangiare la pasta, SIA CHE tu voglia mangiare la pizza, possiamo andare a quello ristorante. – WHETHER you want to eat pasta, OR you want to eat pizza, we can go to that restaurant.

— Sarò contenta SIA CHE andiamo a Parma SIA CHE andiamo a Bologna. – I’ll be happy WHETHER we go to Parma OR we go to Bologna.

— Sia che decida di andare al lavoro in macchina, sia che decida di andare al lavoro in autobus, alla fine impiego lo stesso tempo. – Whether you decide to go to work by car, OR you decide to go to work by bus, in the end, it takes the same amount of time.

But I’ve heard “sia + che,” too. Is that wrong?

Nope. Using the “sia + che” construction is right, too, but “sia + sia” is preferred because it lessens the chance that your next “che” could be confused as “that,” especially in lengthy sentences.

Have questions? Leave them in the comments below!

Resources:

– Correlative, Congiunzioni