{"id":12518,"date":"2016-09-14T09:00:43","date_gmt":"2016-09-14T07:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=12518"},"modified":"2016-09-14T09:12:38","modified_gmt":"2016-09-14T07:12:38","slug":"italian-false-negatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/italian-false-negatives\/","title":{"rendered":"Italian False Negatives"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the questions that we are most frequently asked by readers is: \u2018why oh why is there a non<\/b> in the expression finch\u00e9 non<\/b> or\u00a0fino a quando non<\/strong> (meaning: until)?\u2019<\/em> Ah, the dreaded pleonastic non<\/b>, enemy of every student of Italian!<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, this is one of those cases in which you just have to accept that it works that way in Italian, even if it doesn\u2019t make sense in English. My advice is to kick that bad habit of translating everything word for word, it\u2019s usually more of a hindrance than a help.<\/p>\n

Just Finch\u00e9<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s begin by looking at finch\u00e9<\/b> without<\/i> the non<\/b>, and work our way forward from there, va bene?<\/b><\/p>\n

Finch\u00e9<\/b> on its own means: \u2018as long as\u2019, or \u2018while\/whilst\u2019. Here are some everyday examples of how we use it:<\/p>\n

finch\u00e9 piove non possiamo uscire di casa<\/b> = we can’t go out while it’s raining<\/p>\n

restate finch\u00e9 volete<\/b> = stay as long as you (plural) want<\/p>\n

ti amer\u00f2 finch\u00e9 vivr\u00f2<\/b> = I will love you for as long as I live<\/p>\n

ha continuato a <\/b>camminare<\/b> finch\u00e9 c’era luce<\/b> = he kept walking while there was still light\/for as long as the light lasted<\/p>\n

\"agosto-10-021\"<\/a>

“fino a quando c\u2019\u00e8 acqua possiamo continuare a innaffiare l\u2019orto”. Photo by Geoff<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Fino a quando \u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Fino a quando <\/b>is synonymous (and interchangeable<\/i>) with finch\u00e9:<\/b><\/p>\n

fin<\/b>o a quando<\/b> c\u2019\u00e8 acqua possiamo continuare a innaffiare l\u2019orto<\/b> = whilst there\u2019s water we can continue watering the vegetable garden<\/p>\n

N.B. When used as a question, fino a quando?<\/strong> means ‘until when?’ E.g.:<\/em><\/p>\n

Fino a quando resti in Italia?<\/strong> = until when are you staying in Italy?<\/p>\n

And now … the dreaded Finch\u00e9 non<\/strong>!<\/span><\/p>\n

Finch\u00e9 non<\/strong> means ‘fino al momento in cui<\/strong>‘ (‘until the moment in which’), and is normally translated as ‘until’. The ‘non<\/strong>‘ in this case is a false negative which is not translated<\/u>. Here are some examples of how we use it:<\/p>\n

finch\u00e9 non smette di piovere non possiamo uscire di casa<\/b> = we can’t go out until it stops raining<\/p>\n

non ti muovere finch\u00e9 non lo dico io<\/b> = don’t move until I say so<\/p>\n

ha continuato a <\/b>camminare <\/b>finch\u00e9 non ha fatto buio<\/b> = he kept walking until it got dark<\/p>\n

abbiamo aspettato finch\u00e9 non \u00e8 arrivato Mario<\/b> = we waited until Mario arrived<\/p>\n

finch\u00e9 non avrai finito i compiti non andrai fuori a giocare<\/b> = you can’t go out to play until you’ll have finished your homework<\/p>\n

Fino a quando non …<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Fino a quando non<\/b> is synonymous (and interchangeable<\/i>) with finch\u00e9 non:<\/b><\/p>\n

Fino a quando non ritiro i risultati dell\u2019esame non sapr\u00f2 com\u2019\u00e8 andata<\/b> = until I get the exam results I won\u2019t know how it\u2019s gone<\/p>\n

To summarize:<\/span><\/p>\n

finch\u00e9\/<\/b>fino a quando<\/b> = ‘as long as’ or ‘while’<\/p>\n

finch\u00e9 non\/<\/b>fino a quando non<\/b> = ‘until’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

One of the questions that we are most frequently asked by readers is: \u2018why oh why is there a non in the expression finch\u00e9 non or\u00a0fino a quando non (meaning: until)?\u2019 Ah, the dreaded pleonastic non, enemy of every student of Italian! Well, this is one of those cases in which you just have to…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":12527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9837,9838,386121,386120,386119],"class_list":["post-12518","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grammar","tag-finche","tag-finche-non","tag-fino-a-quando-non","tag-italian-false-negatives","tag-pleonastic-non-in-italian"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t