Lesson 9: Negation, questions and connectors

Part 1: Negation — non before the verb

You already saw the main rule in L7:

The word non goes directly before the conjugated verb.

Statement	Negation
Parlo italiano.	Non parlo italiano.
Anna lavora qui.	Anna non lavora qui.
Capiamo tutto.	Non capiamo tutto.
Sono italiano.	Non sono italiano.
Ha una macchina.	Non ha una macchina.

The English-speaker's gift, restated: English needs do/does/don't/doesn't in present-tense negation: "I don't speak", "she doesn't work". Italian doesn't. Just non + verb. Non parlo. Non lavora. That's it. You can throw the do/does machinery away.

Important: non goes before the verb, not before the pronoun. Io non parlo — correct; not non io parlo.

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Part 2: Double negation — it's the norm!

In Italian (and Spanish, French, Russian — but unlike standard English) you can and should combine non with another negative word in the same clause:

Structure	Example	Translation
non … niente	Non vedo niente.	I don't see anything.
non … nessuno	Non conosco nessuno.	I don't know anyone.
non … mai	Non lavoro mai il sabato.	I never work on Saturdays.
non … più	Non fumo più.	I don't smoke any more.
non … ancora	Non ho ancora finito.	I haven't finished yet.
non … neanche	Non parla neanche inglese.	He doesn't even speak English.

The shift for English speakers: in standard English, "I don't know nothing" is a double negative — frowned on in school. In Italian, "non conosco nessuno" (literally "I don't know nobody") is the only correct form. Drop the non and you've broken the sentence: vedo niente is wrong. It must be non vedo niente.

When the negative word stands before the verb — non drops

If niente, nessuno, mai are placed at the start of the clause, before the verb, you drop non:

Equivalent	With non	Without non
	Non viene nessuno.	Nessuno viene.
	Non succede mai niente.	Niente succede mai.
	Non lavoro mai il sabato.	Mai lavoro il sabato. (literary)

The logic: one negative word has to land somewhere. Before the verb — non is redundant. After the verb — non is required.

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Part 3: Asking a question — intonation or a question word

Yes/no question — just intonation

Unlike English, word order doesn't change:

Statement	Question
Parli italiano.	Parli italiano?
Marco lavora a Roma.	Marco lavora a Roma?
Anna è italiana.	Anna è italiana?

In speech — voice up at the end. In writing — a question mark.

Massive simplification for English speakers. Compare:

English (auxiliary-do machinery)	Italian (intonation only)
Do you speak Italian?	Parli italiano?
Does Anna work in Rome?	Anna lavora a Roma?
Don't you like coffee?	Non ti piace il caffè?

No "do", no inversion, no auxiliary. The whole apparatus of English present-tense questions just doesn't exist here. Big win.

Alternative order: subject to the back

You can (but don't have to) push the subject to the end — it emphasises the subject:

• Lavora a Roma Marco? = Marco lavora a Roma?
• È italiana Anna? = Anna è italiana?

Both are correct. In neutral speech the normal order is more common.

Answers — sì and no

Question	Answer
Parli italiano?	Sì. / Sì, parlo italiano. / No, non parlo italiano.
Anna è qui?	Sì, è qui. / No, non c'è.

Notice: sì with the accent — that's "yes". Without the accent si is a completely different word (reflexive pronoun, L16).

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Part 4: Question words

Word	English	Example
chi	who	Chi parla? — Who's speaking?
che cosa / cosa / che	what	Cosa fai? — What are you doing?
dove	where	Dove abiti? — Where do you live?
quando	when	Quando arrivi? — When are you arriving?
perché	why	Perché non vieni? — Why aren't you coming?
come	how	Come stai? — How are you?
quanto	how much (with mass nouns)	Quanto costa? — How much does it cost?
quale	which	Quale libro vuoi? — Which book do you want?

Cognate gold: chi, come, quando, quanto, quale — all from the Latin qu- family, just like English who, when, what, which, how. Same family tree.

Three ways to say "what": che, cosa, che cosa

All three mean the same — "what":

• Che fai?
• Cosa fai?
• Che cosa fai?

You'll meet all three. Cosa is the commonest in modern spoken Italian. Che cosa is neutral and always correct. Che is shorter, slightly colloquial.

Quanto — agrees in number/gender

When quanto sits before a noun, it acts like an adjective and agrees with it:

Form	Example
quanto (m.sg.)	Quanto pane? — How much bread?
quanta (f.sg.)	Quanta acqua? — How much water?
quanti (m.pl.)	Quanti libri? — How many books?
quante (f.pl.)	Quante persone? — How many people?

On its own — "how much does it cost?" — quanto costa? — no agreement, because there's no noun.

Quale — agrees in number

Form	Example
quale (sg.)	Quale libro? / Quale macchina?
quali (pl.)	Quali libri? / Quali ragazze?

In the singular, one form covers m. and f. (pattern II of L6 adjectives).

Perché — does double duty

The word perché works both as a question ("why?") and as the answer ("because"):

• Perché non vieni? — Why aren't you coming?
• Perché sono stanco. — Because I'm tired.

English splits these into "why" and "because" — different words. Italian uses one word for both. Same trick in French (pourquoi / parce que) — but Italian is more economical. Don't be surprised.

Question with a preposition — preposition goes before the question word

Unlike English ("where do you come from?", "who are you talking to?"), Italian puts the preposition at the very start:

• Da dove vieni? — Where are you from? (literally "From where do you come?")
• A che ora? — At what time?
• Con chi parli? — Who are you talking to? (literally "With whom do you speak?")
• Di chi è questo libro? — Whose book is this? (literally "Of whom is this book?")
• Per quanto tempo? — For how long?

Massive rule for English speakers: never leave the preposition at the end of an Italian sentence. "Who are you talking to?" → Con chi parli?, not parli a chi?. This is "preposition stranding" — English does it freely, Italian forbids it. (Old-fashioned English teachers actually agree with Italian here: "the position to which one preposes" — same logic.)

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Part 5: Connectors — joins between clauses

Word	English	Example
e	and	Marco e Anna parlano italiano.
ma	but	Parlo italiano ma non perfettamente.
o / oppure	or	Prendi un caffè o un tè?
anche	also, too	Parlo anche francese.
perché	because	Non vengo perché sono stanco.
quando	when (in a statement)	Quando arrivo, ti chiamo.
se	if	Se piove, restiamo a casa.
quindi	so, therefore	Sono stanco, quindi vado a letto.
poi	then, afterwards	Prima mangio, poi studio.
però	however, but	Mi piace, però costa troppo.

Notice: quando and perché are the same words as in questions. In a question they sit at the top with a ?; in a statement they work as connectors.

Anche — position

Anche normally sits directly before the word it refers to:

• Anche io parlo italiano. — I speak Italian too. (= I'm not the only one)
• Io parlo anche italiano. — I also speak Italian (among other languages).
• Parlo italiano anche con Anna. — I speak Italian with Anna too.

Compare English "also/too": English uses position too, but more loosely. Italian is stricter: anche almost always attaches to the next word.

E before a vowel — ed

If the next word starts with e, Italians often write ed (for euphony):

• Marco ed Elena (rather than Marco e Elena)

It's standard but not strict. Marco e Elena also turns up.

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