Negatives - Easy Learning Grammar Italian

1  non

• The Italian word non (meaning not) is the one you need to make a statement or a question negative:

• In English not or n’t comes after verbs. In Italian non comes in front of verbs.

• In English we sometimes make sentences negative by adding don’t, doesn’t or didn’t before the main verb, but in Italian you always just add non to the verb.

• If there are words such as mi, ti, lo, la, ci, vi, li or le in front of the verb, non goes immediately in front of them.

• If you have a phrase consisting of not with another word or phrase, such as not now, or not yet, use non before the other word.

• BUT, if you want to be more emphatic, or to make a contrast, use no instead of non, and put it after the other word.

• You use no instead of non in certain phrases:

• In the phrase o no (meaning or not)

• In the phrase di no after some verbs:

2  Other negative phrases

• In English you only use one negative word in a sentence: I haven’t ever seen him. In Italian you use non followed by another negative word such as niente (meaning nothing), or mai, (meaning never).

• The following are the most common phrases of this kind.

• non … mai

  never or not ever

• non … niente

  nothing or not …anything

• non … nessuno	nobody or not … anybody
  Non ho visto nessuno.	I didn’t see anybody.

• non … da nessuna parte

  nowhere or not … anywhere

• non … nessuno/nessuna + noun	no or not … any
  Non c’è nessun bisogno di andare.	There’s no need to go. or There isn’t any need to go.

• non … più

  no longer or not … any more

• non …né … né …

  neither … nor

• If you begin a sentence with a negative word such as nessuno or niente, do not use non with the verb that comes after it.

• In Italian you can have more than one negative word following a negative verb.

• As in English, negative words can be used on their own to answer a question.