“Non ho fatto niente!” Italian double negatives. Audio.

YesterdayIwatchedamoviewithJasonStathamanditmademethinkaboutItaliandoublenegatives.IsItalyacountryinneedofgoodgrammar?

ThemovieiscalledCHAOS,Jasonisabadcopandhe’sextortingaconfession.Youcanseethescreenshots here:

  • Girl: Ididn’tdonothing!
  • Jason: It’sIdidn’tdoanything.”Didn’tdonothing”isadoublenegative,infersthepositive.Thegrammarinthiscountryisterrible.
Thisfilm isnotamasterpiece,butthe linewasbrilliant.

Ithoughtaboutthestructureofthesentence”Ididn’tdonothing”,wronginEnglishbutrightinItalian(nonhofattoniente),andaboutallthestudentswho pointedthatoutduringmylessons.Isn’tthatadoublenegative?WhyItaliansusesentenceslike”nonc’ènessuno”and”nonhomangiatoniente”?

Theassumptionthatadoublenegationautomatically”infersthepositive”belongstomathematicsandlogic,nottolanguage.”Ididn’tsayIdon’tloveyou”doesn’tmean”IsaidIloveyou”.

ButthequestionhereiswhyinItalianweusetheredundantNONinthesamesentencewithNESSUNO,MAI,NIENTE,NULLA(nobody,never,nothing),which alreadyarenegations.TheanswerisbecauseinvulgarLatin,becomingmodernItalian,wealreadyhaddoublenegatives asnegativesentences. Theansweristherefore”because”.

Ifyouareparticularlyfastidiousaboutgrammar,wecanliquidatethemattersayingthattheadverbNONis”pleonastic”.Forsimplepeoplelikeme,itmeansthatNONinsentenceslikenonhofattonienteisjustanadditiontoreinforcethenegation.Becarefulthough.Itdoesn’tmeanyoucansayhofattoniente tosayIdidnothing. WemustaddNONtobuildacorrectsentenceinItalian.

Someexamples.Trytotranslatethefollowingsentences:

    Hofame.Nonhomangiatoniente.

    Lucaècadutomanonsièfattoniente.

    Hotelefonatoacasamanonharispostonessuno

    Nonavetemaimangiatoilsushi?

    Nonsentonulla,alzailvolumedellativùperfavore.

    Senonstudimai,nonimparerainiente.

 

Thelastone isadouble-doublenegative,butit’sperfectlycorrect.Thankgod,Jason,grammarinthiscountryisjustfine.

IhopethisshortlessonaboutItaliandoublenegativeswashelpful.Apresto!

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Riccardo
Milanese, graduated in Italian literature a long time ago, I began teaching Italian online in Japan back in 2003. I usually spend winter in Tokyo and go back to Italy when the cherry blossoms shed their petals. I do not use social media.

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