{"id":14933,"date":"2017-09-26T12:02:38","date_gmt":"2017-09-26T10:02:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=14933"},"modified":"2017-09-26T14:31:55","modified_gmt":"2017-09-26T12:31:55","slug":"when-is-a-non-not-a-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/when-is-a-non-not-a-not\/","title":{"rendered":"When is a non not a not?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Italian word non<\/strong> means ‘not’, right … beh, non sempre!<\/strong> (well not always!)<\/span><\/p>\n

The pleonastic<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/a> non<\/strong> is a rather sneaky little character who likes to hang around in otherwise straightforward sentences with the sole purpose of confusing hapless students of Italian. Well dear readers, fear not, for we know his dirty little tricks and are here to protect you from him!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, in order to recognise a non-non<\/strong> we first need to recognise a genuine non<\/strong>. So, here are some examples of nice normal non<\/strong>‘s with no nasty tricks up their sleeves:<\/p>\n

Non<\/strong> = not<\/p>\n

Non vengo da te stasera<\/strong> = I\u2019m not coming to your place this evening
\nCome va il lavoro? … Non molto bene <\/strong>= How’s the work going? … Not very well
\nOggi \u00e8 stato un giorno non facile<\/strong> = Today wasn\u2019t an easy day
\nNon tutti sanno fare il pane cos\u00ec! <\/strong>= Not everyone knows how to make bread like this!<\/p>\n

Non<\/strong> in rhetorical questions<\/p>\n

Non mi hai detto che volevi partire domani?<\/strong> = Didn\u2019t you tell me that you wanted to leave tomorrow?
\nNon pensi che sia meglio aspettare?<\/strong> = don\u2019t you think it would be better to wait?
\nMi domando se non sia meglio partire invece luned\u00ec prossimo<\/strong> = I wonder if it wouldn\u2019t be better to leave next Monday instead<\/p>\n

Well, I think it’s fairly clear from those examples when non<\/strong> means not. But when is a non<\/strong> not a not?<\/p>\n

A non<\/strong> is not a not<\/em><\/span> after finch\u00e9<\/strong> or fino a quando<\/strong> (until). It’s trying to hide in the following sentences, but I’m going to light it up in red for all to see:<\/p>\n

Dobbiamo restare qui finch\u00e9 non<\/span> arriva Giovanni<\/strong> = we must stay here until Giovanni arrives
\nNon ci ho creduto fino a quando non<\/span> l\u2019ho visto coi miei occhi<\/strong> = I didn\u2019t believe it until I saw it with my own eyes<\/p>\n

A non<\/strong> is not a not<\/em><\/span> when we use comparisons in which the second part is introduce by the expression \u2018di quanto\u2019 <\/strong>(than):<\/p>\n

E’ andata meglio di quanto tu non<\/span> creda<\/strong> = It went better than you think
\nLa salita finale \u00e8 stata pi\u00f9 difficile di quanto non <\/span>mi aspettassi <\/strong>= The final climb was more difficult than I expected<\/p>\n

A non<\/strong> is not a not<\/em><\/span> after the expressions \u2018c\u2019\u00e8 mancato poco che\u2019<\/strong> and \u2018per poco\u2019<\/strong> (almost\/nearly):<\/p>\n

C\u2019\u00e8 mancato poco che non<\/span> cadessi<\/strong> = I nearly fell
\nPer poco non<\/span> perdevamo il treno<\/strong> = we almost missed the train<\/p>\n

A non<\/strong> is not a not<\/em><\/span> after the expression \u2018a meno che\u2019<\/strong> (unless):<\/p>\n

Non posso liberarmi, a meno che Giovanni non<\/span> mi sostituisca<\/strong> = I can’t free myself up, unless Giovanni will cover for me
\nFacciamo in questo modo, a meno che tu non<\/span> abbia un\u2019altra idea<\/strong> = let\u2019s do it like this, unless you have another idea<\/p>\n

A non<\/strong> is not a not<\/em><\/span> in double negations where it precedes nessuno\/a<\/strong> (nobody) or niente<\/strong> (nothing):<\/p>\n

non<\/span> c\u2019\u00e8 nessuno in casa<\/strong> = nobody’s at home
\nnon<\/span> abbiamo visto nessuno<\/strong> = we haven’t seen anybody
\nnon<\/span> c\u2019\u00e8 niente di pi\u00f9 importante<\/strong> = nothing is more important
\nnon<\/span> ho sentito niente<\/strong> = I haven’t heard anything
\nnon<\/span> lo sa nesssuno<\/strong> = nobody knows
\nil test non<\/span> l’ha superato nessuna di voi<\/strong> = none of you passed the test<\/p>\n

N.B. when the negative pronoun nessuno\/a<\/strong> or niente<\/strong> precedes the verb,we do not<\/u> use the pleonastic non<\/strong>, e.g.<\/p>\n

nessuno \u00e8 in casa<\/strong> = nobody is at home
\nniente \u00e8 pi\u00f9 importante<\/strong> = nothing is more important
\nnessuno lo sa<\/strong> = nobody knows
\nnessuna di voi ha superato il test<\/strong> = none of you passed the test<\/p>\n

See also: Italian False Negatives<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

The Italian word non means ‘not’, right … beh, non sempre! (well not always!) The pleonastic non is a rather sneaky little character who likes to hang around in otherwise straightforward sentences with the sole purpose of confusing hapless students of Italian. Well dear readers, fear not, for we know his dirty little tricks and…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":14934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[386120,386119],"class_list":["post-14933","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grammar","tag-italian-false-negatives","tag-pleonastic-non-in-italian"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14933"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14941,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14933\/revisions\/14941"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}