{"id":5709,"date":"2014-05-07T08:16:43","date_gmt":"2014-05-07T08:16:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=5709"},"modified":"2014-05-07T15:32:02","modified_gmt":"2014-05-07T15:32:02","slug":"oh-no-not-ne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/oh-no-not-ne\/","title":{"rendered":"Oh No … Not Ne!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yes, it\u2019s 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<\/strong>. Ne<\/strong> has a variety of mysterious uses, but the most common is a means of saying \u2018of it\u2019, \u2018of them\u2019. 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<\/strong> with mi dia cinque di quelle<\/strong>, you simply say me ne dia cinque<\/strong>.
Here are some more example in the present, future, and past tense:<\/p>\n

\"6<\/a><\/p>\n

Present<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

quanti gatti avete?<\/strong> = how many cats have you got? ne<\/font> abbiamo sei<\/strong> = we\u2019ve got six (of them)<\/font><\/em><\/p>\n

quante uova ti servono per fare la torta?<\/strong> = how many eggs do you need to make the cake? me ne<\/font> servono tre<\/strong> = I need three (of them)<\/font><\/em><\/p>\n

quanta farina usi? <\/strong>= how much flour do you use? ne<\/font> uso un chilo<\/strong> = I use a kilo (of it)<\/font><\/em><\/p>\n

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

\"IMG_1687\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Future:<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

quante uova ti serviranno per fare la torta?<\/strong> = how many eggs will you need to make the cake? me ne<\/font> serviranno tre<\/strong> = I\u2019ll need three (of them)<\/font><\/em><\/p>\n

quanta farina userai?<\/strong> = how much flour will you use? ne<\/font> user\u00f2 un chilo<\/strong> = I\u2019ll use a kilo (of it)<\/font><\/em><\/p>\n

as you can see, the only change to the use of ne in the future tense is the verbs \u2018need\u2019 serviranno<\/strong>, and \u2018use\u2019 userai<\/strong> , user\u00f2<\/strong>. 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.<\/p>\n

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

Past:<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

a. quanti chiodi sono rimasti?<\/strong> = how many nails are left? ne<\/font> sono rimasti tanti<\/strong> = there\u2019re loads (of them)<\/font><\/em> left<\/p>\n

b. quanta farina hai usato? <\/strong>= how much flour did you use? ne<\/font> ho usata un chilo<\/strong> = I\u2019ve use a kilo (of it)<\/font><\/em> <\/p>\n

c. quante scatole di ceci hai comprato? <\/strong>= how many tins of chick peas did you buy? ne<\/font> ho comprate cinque<\/strong> = I bought five (of them)<\/font><\/em><\/p>\n

d. quanti bambini sono venuti alla festa di Giorgio?<\/strong> = how many children came to Giorgio\u2019s party? ne<\/font> sono venuti dodici<\/strong> = twelve (of them)<\/font><\/em> came<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s analyse these examples:<\/p>\n

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

b. quanta farina hai usato?<\/strong> The verb usare<\/strong> is built with the auxiliary verb avere<\/strong> in the past tense, therefore the past participle usato<\/strong> is usually in the masculine singular form. However, in sentences where ne<\/strong> is used to substitute \u2018of it\/them\u2019 the past participle changes accordingly. Hence: ne<\/font> ho usata<\/u> un chilo<\/strong> (the past participle changes to the feminine singular  usata<\/strong> in agreement with the word farina<\/strong>)<\/em><\/p>\n

c. quante scatole di ceci hai comprato?<\/strong> As in the example above, the verb comprare<\/strong> is built with the auxiliary verb avere<\/strong> in the past tense, therefore the past participle is usually in the masculine singular form, i.e. comprato<\/strong>. However, with the introduction of ne to substitute \u2018scatole di ceci\u2019 (feminine plural)<\/em>  comprato<\/strong> becomes comprate<\/strong> (feminine plural in agreement with the word scatole<\/strong>)<\/em><\/p>\n

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

Click here for some more information about the use of the past participle<\/font><\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s your turn <\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

Complete the following examples by translating the replies into Italian:<\/p>\n

quante banane vuoi?<\/strong> = how many bananas do you want? reply<\/em> \u2013 give me six please = ?<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

ci sono rimasti dei gerani?<\/strong> are there any geraniums left? reply<\/em> \u2013 yes, there are several left = ?<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

c\u2019erano molte persone al concerto?<\/strong> were there many people at the concert? reply<\/em> \u2013 yes, there were a lot = ?<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

hai visto tutti i film di Montalbano?<\/strong> have you seen all the Montalbano films? reply<\/em> \u2013 no, I\u2019ve only seen a few of them = ?<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Yes, it\u2019s 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 \u2018of it\u2019, \u2018of them\u2019. Used correctly, it will make you sound like…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":5731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[292217],"class_list":["post-5709","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grammar","tag-how-to-use-ne-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