When living in Italy, it's not unusual to find yourself at a loss to explain what's going on around you.
And when something defies explanation, chissà (hear it pronounced here) is the word you need.
Cosa sta succedendo adesso?
Chissà!
What's happening now?
Who knows!
When used on its own (or with a shrug of the shoulders and a boh) in response to a question, it means something like “Beats me!” or “Goodness only knows”.
You can also use it when expressing doubt about something, like this:
Chissà quando arriveranno.
Who knows when they’ll arrive.
Chissà is a shortened form of the phrase chi sa, literally meaning “who knows”.
Note however that chissà and chi sa aren’t always interchangeable when used in a sentence. Chissà is often used when musing out loud, while chi sa is more likely to be an actual request for information.
Compare the following two examples:
Chissà se Maria mangia la carne o no.
I wonder if Maria eats meat.
Chi sa se Maria mangia la carne?
Does anybody know if Maria eats meat?
A more complicated way of using chissà is when talking about someone or something being 'special' – combining it with chi (who) or che cosa (what).
Marco si crede chissà chi.
Marco thinks a lot of himself. (Literally “Marco thinks he's who knows who”)
La pasta non era chissà che cosa.
The (quality of) the pasta wasn’t anything special. (Literally “The pasta wasn't who knows what”)
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