{"id":2280,"date":"2012-09-10T13:51:29","date_gmt":"2012-09-10T13:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=2280"},"modified":"2012-09-10T19:27:08","modified_gmt":"2012-09-10T19:27:08","slug":"ne-un-po-di-ripasso","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/ne-un-po-di-ripasso\/","title":{"rendered":"Ne: un po’ di ripasso"},"content":{"rendered":"

A long time ago I wrote an article in which I tried to explain the different meanings of the pronoun ne<\/strong>: Tricky little words: ne<\/font><\/strong><\/a> (click on the link to view the article). Following an e.mail from a friend, I\u2019ve decided to revisit the topic concentrating on its practical use.<\/p>\n

The word ne <\/strong>in Italian means \u201cof it\u201d or \u201cof them\u201d, and is used as a substitute in order to avoid repetition when talking about the quantity of something which has already been mentioned in the conversation. Technically it is known as a particella partitiva<\/strong> (literally: particle of a fraction). Let\u2019s have a look at a few examples of how to use it:<\/p>\n

Fruttivendolo: \u201cQuante mele vuole?\u201d Cliente: \u201cMe ne<\/font> dia due chili<\/font>\u201d <\/strong>(Greengrocer: \u201cHow many apples do you want?\u201d Customer: \u201cGive me two kilos<\/font> of them<\/font>\u201d)<\/p>\n

Gianni: \u201cHai mai visto un cinghiale dal vero?\u201d Mario: \u201cRecentemente ne<\/font> ho visto uno<\/font> vicino al fiume\u201d<\/strong> (Gianni: Have you ever seen a wild boar from real?\u201d Mario: \u201cRecently I saw one<\/font> <\/font>of them<\/font> near the river\u201d)<\/p>\n

Ti darei volentieri della marmellata di more, ma ne<\/font> \u00e8 rimasto un solo barattolo<\/font> e mi serve per la crostata<\/strong> (I would gladly give you some blackberry jam, but there is only one jar<\/font> of it<\/font> left and I need it for the tart)<\/p>\n

Luca: \u201cPensi di avere abbastanza mattonelle per finire il pavimento?\u201d Geoff: \u201cNo, mi sa che me ne<\/font> serviranno ancora una decina\u201d <\/strong>(Luca: \u201cDo you think you have enough tiles to finish the floor?\u201d Geoff: \u201cNo, I think I\u2019ll need another ten of them<\/font>\u201d)<\/p>\n

N.B. When ne<\/strong> follows a personal pronoun such as \u2018mi\u2019<\/strong> (me), \u2018ci\u2019<\/strong> (us), \u2018vi\u2019<\/strong>(you plural) etc. the pronoun is modified in the following way: \u2018me\u2019<\/strong> (me), \u2018ce\u2019<\/strong> (us), \u2018ve\u2019 <\/strong>(you plural). Hence: me ne servono quattro<\/strong> (I need four of them), \u2018pi\u00f9 tardi ve ne do qualcuno<\/strong> \u2019<\/strong> (I\u2019ll give you [plural]<\/font><\/em> some later on).<\/p>\n

As you can see from the preceding example, ne<\/strong> is also used with an indefinite adjective\/adverb which doesn\u2019t specify an exact quantity, such as molto<\/strong> (many \/ much \/ a lot), poco<\/strong> (little \/ a few), qualcuno<\/strong> (some) e.g:<\/p>\n

Maria: \u201cQuanto pane c\u2019\u00e8?\u201d Carlo: \u201cCe<\/font> n\u2019\u00e8<\/font> rimasto<\/font> molto<\/font>\u201d <\/strong>(Maria: \u201cHow much bread is there?\u201d Carlo: \u201cthere’s a lot <\/font>of it<\/font> left\u201d) <\/p>\n

Questa estate \u00e8 stata terribile per i pomodori, ne<\/font> abbiamo raccolti pochissimi <\/font><\/strong>(This summer has been terrible for the tomatoes, we picked very few<\/font> of them<\/font>)<\/p>\n

\u00c8 avanzato del gelato. Qualcuno ne<\/font> vuole ancora un po\u2019<\/font>? <\/strong>(There\u2019s some ice-cream leftover. Would anybody like some more<\/font>?)<\/p>\n

N.B.<\/strong> Whereas in English \u2018of it\u2019 \/ \u2018of them\u2019 is often left unstated, e.g. \u201cI\u2019ve got lots of tomatoes, would you like some (of them)<\/font><\/em>?\u201d, in Italian the ne<\/strong> should always be used, e.g. \u201cHo moltissimi pomodori, ne<\/font> vuoi qualcuno?\u201d<\/strong> (\u201cI\u2019ve got lots of tomatoes, would you like some of them?\u201d).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A long time ago I wrote an article in which I tried to explain the different meanings of the pronoun ne: Tricky little words: ne (click on the link to view the article). Following an e.mail from a friend, I\u2019ve decided to revisit the topic concentrating on its practical use. The word ne in Italian…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[229116,229118,833],"class_list":["post-2280","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-grammar","tag-italian-ne","tag-italian-pronoun-ne","tag-particella-partitiva-ne"],"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