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Negative forms

Besides the simple negative form (non before the verb), the negatives that follow below are common. Review those you already know and learn these new expressions.

Study the following examples, arranged in the order used in the preceding list.

Egli non parla più. — He no longer talks. / He doesn’t speak anymore.

Essa non dice niente (nulla). — She says nothing. / She doesn’t say anything.

Non lo vediamo mai. — We never see him.

Non viene nessuno. — No one comes / is coming.

Non li conosco affatto. — I don’t know them at all.

Non vuole neanche (nemmeno/neppure) mangiare. — He doesn’t even want to eat.

Non ne abbiamo che quattro. — We have only four (of them).

Non vedo né il ragazzo né la ragazza. — I see neither the boy nor the girl.

Observe that niente, nulla, mai, nessuno, and né […] né may also precede the verb, functioning as the subject of the sentence, in which case non is omitted.

Niente è impossibile. — Nothing is impossible.

Nulla è eterno nella vita. — Nothing is eternal in life.

Nulla di ciò che dice è vero. (Non dice nulla di vero.) — Nothing (of what) he says is true. (He says nothing that is true.)

Mai lo dirà. (Non lo dirà mai.) — He will never say it.

Nessuno parla. — No one is speaking.

Né Giovanni né Roberto è venuto. — Neither John nor Robert came (has come).

NOTE:

When used after the verb (after the auxiliary, in compound tenses) and without non, mai means “ever.”

È mai stato in Italia Lei? — Have you ever been to Italy?

Non is sometimes used redundantly, particularly in comparisons of inequality.

È più ricco che non si creda. — He is richer than you think (than one thinks).

Se non, “if not,” may be translated as “except.”

La terra non si conquista definitivamente se non con l’aratro. –Ferrero — The land is not definitively conquered except by the plow.

VOCABULARY A

VOCABULARY B

VOCABULARY C