Yes, it’s time to take another look at that annoying little two letter word that makes even the toughest students of Italian tremble at the knees: ne. Ne has a variety of mysterious uses, but the most common is a means of saying ‘of it’, ‘of them’. Used correctly, it will make you sound like a pro, and your sentences will flow in a natural way. For example, instead of replying to the question quante mele vuole with mi dia cinque di quelle, you simply say me ne dia cinque.
Here are some more example in the present, future, and past tense:

Present

quanti gatti avete? = how many cats have you got? ne abbiamo sei = we’ve got six (of them)

quante uova ti servono per fare la torta? = how many eggs do you need to make the cake? me ne servono tre = I need three (of them)

quanta farina usi? = how much flour do you use? ne uso un chilo = I use a kilo (of it)

quanto cemento devo  fare per finire questo lavoro? = how much cement should I make to finish this job? se ne fai altri due secchi dovrebbe bastare = if you make another two buckets  (of it) it should be enough

Future:

quante uova ti serviranno per fare la torta? = how many eggs will you need to make the cake? me ne serviranno tre = I’ll need three (of them)

quanta farina userai? = how much flour will you use? ne userò un chilo = I’ll use a kilo (of it)

as you can see, the only change to the use of ne in the future tense is the verbs ‘need’ serviranno, and ‘use’ userai , userò. Apart from those changes the construction of the sentence remains the same. When using ne in the past, however, things get a little bit more complicated.

Past:

a. quanti chiodi sono rimasti? = how many nails are left? ne sono rimasti tanti = there’re loads (of them) left

b. quanta farina hai usato? = how much flour did you use? ne ho usata un chilo = I’ve use a kilo (of it) 

c. quante scatole di ceci hai comprato? = how many tins of chick peas did you buy? ne ho comprate cinque = I bought five (of them)

d. quanti bambini sono venuti alla festa di Giorgio? = how many children came to Giorgio’s party? ne sono venuti dodici = twelve (of them) came

Let’s analyse these examples:

a. quanti chiodi sono rimasti? The verb rimanere is built with the auxiliary verb essere in the past tense, therefore the past participle rimasti is masculine plural because it agrees with the subject i chiodi.

b. quanta farina hai usato? The verb usare is built with the auxiliary verb avere in the past tense, therefore the past participle usato is usually in the masculine singular form. However, in sentences where ne is used to substitute ‘of it/them’ the past participle changes accordingly. Hence: ne ho usata un chilo (the past participle changes to the feminine singular  usata in agreement with the word farina)

c. quante scatole di ceci hai comprato? As in the example above, the verb comprare is built with the auxiliary verb avere in the past tense, therefore the past participle is usually in the masculine singular form, i.e. comprato. However, with the introduction of ne to substitute ‘scatole di ceci’ (feminine plural)  comprato becomes comprate (feminine plural in agreement with the word scatole)

d. quanti bambini sono venuti alla festa di Giorgio? The verb venire is built with the auxiliary verb essere in the past tense, therefore the past participle venuti is masculine plural because it agrees with the subject bambini).

Click here for some more information about the use of the past participle

 

Now it’s your turn

Complete the following examples by translating the replies into Italian:

quante banane vuoi? = how many bananas do you want? reply – give me six please = ?

ci sono rimasti dei gerani? are there any geraniums left? reply – yes, there are several left = ?

c’erano molte persone al concerto? were there many people at the concert? reply – yes, there were a lot = ?

hai visto tutti i film di Montalbano? have you seen all the Montalbano films? reply – no, I’ve only seen a few of them = ?