Learn about double negatives and how to say No in Italian
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Intro |
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| Michael: How do you say "no" in Italian? |
| Ofelia: And what is a double negative? |
| Michael: At ItalianPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Picture the following situation: Giuseppe Mancini, a highschool student, has just returned home. Upon seeing him, his mother asks, |
| "Did you meet your friends?" |
| Anna Mancini: Hai incontrato i tuoi amici? |
| Dialogue |
| Anna Mancini: Hai incontrato i tuoi amici? |
| Giuseppe Mancini: No, non ho incontrato nessuno. |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Anna Mancini: Hai incontrato i tuoi amici? |
| Michael: "Did you meet your friends?" |
| Giuseppe Mancini: No, non ho incontrato nessuno. |
| Michael: "No, I didn't meet anyone. (Lit. "No, I didn't meet nobody.")" |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In English, you are not allowed to use two negatives in the same negative sentence. For example, if you've been kept in the dark about something and you're asked about it, you can't say "I don't know nothing," you have to say "I don't know anything." |
| This rule doesn't apply in Italian, where two or more negatives in the same sentence are possible and intensify the negation. Italian is a negative concord language, meaning that two negatives, unlike you'd logically think, don't make a positive. |
| Michael: In this lesson, you'll learn how to say "no" in Italian and what the "double negative" is. |
| Michael: First, let's review how to make a negative sentence. In Italian, you make a negative sentence by adding the word |
| Ofelia: non |
| Michael: meaning "not" before the verb. For example, |
| Ofelia: John non mangia, |
| Micheal: which means "John doesn't eat." Here, the word |
| Ofelia: non |
| Michael: precedes the verb |
| Ofelia: mangia. |
| Michael: Let's hear it one more time. |
| Ofelia: [SLOW] John non mangia. [NORMAL] John non mangia. |
| Michael: If you are answering a yes-or-no question, similarly to English, you just have to add |
| Ofelia: no |
| Michael: at the beginning of the sentence. For example, if you are asked "Does John eat?" or |
| Ofelia: John mangia? |
| Michael: you should answer with |
| Ofelia: No, John non mangia. [SLOW] No, John non mangia, |
| Michael: meaning "No, John doesn't eat." |
| Let's talk about the "double negative" or |
| Ofelia: doppia negazione. |
| Michael: As we said, unlike English, in Italian, you can have other negative words following the main negation. Let's see some of these alternative negation words. The first is |
| Ofelia: niente, |
| Michael: which means "nothing." Let's hear a sample sentence: |
| Ofelia: John non mangia niente. |
| Michael: "John doesn't eat anything." |
| Ofelia: [SLOW] John non mangia niente. [NORMAL] John non mangia niente. |
| Michael: Next is |
| Ofelia: mai |
| Michael: "never." Here is a sample sentence: |
| Ofelia: John non mangia mai. |
| Michael: "John never eats." |
| Ofelia: [SLOW] John non mangia mai. [NORMAL] John non mangia mai. |
| Michael: Next is |
| Ofelia: neanche |
| Michael: "not even." Here is a sample sentence: |
| Ofelia: John non mangia neanche. |
| Michael: "John doesn't even eat." |
| Ofelia: [SLOW] John non mangia neanche. [NORMAL] John non mangia neanche. |
| Michael: And what is the Italian for "John never eats anything, not even an apple?" |
| Ofelia: John non mangia mai niente, neanche una mela. |
| Michael: As you can see, in this case, you have to combine more than two negatives together. |
| Ofelia: [SLOW] John non mangia mai niente, neanche una mela. [NORMAL] John non mangia mai niente, neanche una mela. |
| Michael: Please notice that, in Italian, it's not possible to express the same meaning if you don't make a double or multiple negation when using words such as |
| Ofelia: niente, mai, neanche |
| Michael: There is only one rule you have to keep in mind: you have to omit the main negation word: |
| Ofelia: non |
| Michael: if any other negation word precedes the verb. Let's see an example of this. |
| Ofelia: John neanche mangia. |
| Michael: "John doesn't even eat." As you can see, there is just one negative here and it precedes the verb. |
| Ofelia: [SLOW] John neanche mangia. [NORMAL] John neanche mangia. |
| [Recall] |
| Michael: Now, let's take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Giuseppe says "No, I didn't meet anyone?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Ofelia as Giuseppe Mancini: No, non ho incontrato nessuno. |
| Michael: This literally means "No, I didn't meet nobody," but translates as "No, I didn't meet anyone." You can see the main negation word |
| Ofelia: non |
| Michael: meaning "not," followed by another negative: |
| Ofelia: nessuno, |
| Michael: which means "nobody." |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, you learned how to make a negative sentence in Italian, and what the "double negative" or "multiple negative" is. In Italian, two or more negative words in the same sentence don't make a positive but actually intensify the negation. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Ofelia: A presto! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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