🔍 In short. English has a tidy set of place words: somewhere, anywhere, nowhere, elsewhere, everywhere, around there. Italian splits the work between two different shapes. One-word adverbs like altrove, ovunque, dappertutto, and phrases built around parte like da qualche parte, da nessuna parte, da quelle parti, da un’altra parte. The phrases with parte handle the everyday tone. Le chiavi sono da qualche parte, non l’ho trovato da nessuna parte, vivono da quelle parti. The one-word adverbs handle the higher tone or the more emphatic feel. Cercherò altrove, è ovunque, l’ho cercato dappertutto. Get the pair right and a tricky corner of Italian indefinite place words clicks into place.
Cosa impareremo oggi
👆🏻 Jump to sections
- The map: phrases with parte vs one-word adverbs
- Da qualche parte: somewhere
- Da nessuna parte: nowhere, not anywhere
- Altrove and da un’altra parte: somewhere else
- Dappertutto and ovunque: everywhere
- Da quelle parti: around there, in those parts
- Da una parte… dall’altra: on one hand, on the other
- The somewhere vs anywhere trap for English speakers
- Cheat sheet
- Dialogue: the lost keys in Lucca
- Mini-challenge
- Frequently asked questions
- Related guides
The map: phrases with parte vs one-word adverbs
Picture two parallel sets of tools. On one side, Italian uses phrases built around the noun parte (‘part’, ‘area’, ‘side’) with a small set of indefinite words slotted in front: qualche parte, nessuna parte, un’altra parte, quelle parti. These phrases are the workhorses of everyday speech. They sound natural in conversation and you’ll hear them constantly in shops, on the phone, in family arguments about misplaced things. On the other side, Italian has one-word adverbs that point to the same area of meaning: altrove, ovunque, dappertutto. These adverbs are shorter and a touch more formal or emphatic. A novelist writes cercherò altrove; a friend on the phone says cercherò da un’altra parte. Both work, but the tone shifts.
The good news for an English speaker is that the mapping is fairly clean. Somewhere matches da qualche parte. Nowhere matches da nessuna parte. Somewhere else matches both altrove and da un’altra parte. Everywhere matches dappertutto and ovunque. The pattern that surprises learners is the use of da in all the phrases with parte. English uses no preposition for ‘somewhere’, but Italian wants da. Forgetting the da is the single most common slip.
Da qualche parte: somewhere
The phrase da qualche parte is the everyday Italian for ‘somewhere’, when you mean an unspecified location. The shape is fixed: da + qualche + parte, always singular, never plural. Use it whenever English would say ‘somewhere’ in a positive statement, in a question, or in a vague reference to a place you can’t or won’t name.
- Credo di aver dimenticato la borsa da qualche parte.
I think I left my bag somewhere. - Le mie chiavi devono essere da qualche parte qui dentro.
My keys must be somewhere in here. - L’ho letto da qualche parte, forse su una rivista.
I read it somewhere, maybe in a magazine. - Vorrei andare da qualche parte tranquilla per il fine settimana.
I’d like to go somewhere quiet for the weekend. - Ci siamo già visti da qualche parte?
Have we already met somewhere? - Federica ha lasciato l’ombrello da qualche parte in biblioteca.
Federica left her umbrella somewhere in the library.
Two small details to notice. First, parte stays singular. You’ll never hear da qualche parti. Second, when you want to add a specifier (‘somewhere quiet’, ‘somewhere warm’), the adjective slots in after parte: da qualche parte tranquilla, da qualche parte calda, da qualche parte vicino al mare. The adjective agrees with parte, which is feminine singular.
Da nessuna parte: nowhere, not anywhere
For ‘nowhere’ or ‘not anywhere’, Italian uses da nessuna parte. The structure mirrors da qualche parte, but with nessuna (‘no’, ‘not any’) in the slot. Italian needs two negatives: the verb is preceded by non, and da nessuna parte sits later in the sentence. This is the standard Italian double negation rule and it applies here without exception.
- Non ho visto le chiavi da nessuna parte.
I haven’t seen the keys anywhere. - Stasera non andiamo da nessuna parte, restiamo a casa.
Tonight we aren’t going anywhere, we’re staying home. - Quel libro non si trova da nessuna parte in città.
That book can’t be found anywhere in the city. - Non sono mai stato da nessuna parte all’estero.
I’ve never been anywhere abroad. - Renata non vuole andare da nessuna parte senza il cane.
Renata doesn’t want to go anywhere without the dog.
If da nessuna parte comes before the verb, the non drops out, because the negative element is already in front. This is the same rule that applies to nessuno and niente. Compare: non l’ho visto da nessuna parte (‘I haven’t seen it anywhere’) with the heavier, more rhetorical da nessuna parte l’ho visto, which sounds like the opening of a frustrated rant and is much rarer in everyday speech.
🎯 Mini-task: Fill in da qualche parte or da nessuna parte.
- Ho cercato il passaporto in casa, ma non lo trovo ______.
- Quel ragazzo l’ho già visto ______, ma non ricordo dove.
- Stasera non esco, non vado ______.
- Le tue scarpe da ginnastica devono essere ______ in camera.
- Federico non è ______, è ancora in ufficio.
👉 Show answers
1. non lo trovo da nessuna parte (double negation)
2. l’ho già visto da qualche parte (vague positive)
3. non vado da nessuna parte (double negation)
4. devono essere da qualche parte in camera (vague positive)
5. Federico non è da nessuna parte, è ancora in ufficio (negative)
Altrove and da un’altra parte: somewhere else
‘Somewhere else’ has two natural Italian translations, and they’re not identical in tone. Da un’altra parte is the everyday, conversational version. Altrove is one word, sounds a touch more elevated, and is the favorite of writers, journalists, and anyone who wants a sentence to feel a bit crisper or more literary. A friend will say cerchiamo da un’altra parte; a newspaper headline will write l’azienda investirà altrove.
- Se non lo trovi qui, prova da un’altra parte.
If you don’t find it here, try somewhere else. - Pazienza: cercherò altrove.
Never mind: I’ll look elsewhere. - Il ristorante era pieno, siamo andati a mangiare da un’altra parte.
The restaurant was full, we went to eat somewhere else. - Quel libro l’avrò letto altrove, non sui Promessi sposi.
I must have read that somewhere else, not in Promessi sposi. - Non mi piace questo bar, andiamo da un’altra parte.
I don’t like this café, let’s go somewhere else. - Margherita ha trovato lavoro altrove, in un’altra città.
Margherita found a job elsewhere, in another city.
One detail worth memorizing: altrove is invariable. It never changes form, no matter what gender or number the subject is. Compare with da un’altra parte, which has the feminine article una elided to un’ before the vowel of altra. The apostrophe is mandatory: un’altra parte, never una altra parte. Skip the apostrophe and you lose a small but important written signal.
You’ll also hear the variant da tutt’altra parte, which means ‘somewhere completely different’, ‘totally the wrong direction’. Hai cercato in cucina, ma le chiavi sono da tutt’altra parte: ‘you looked in the kitchen, but the keys are somewhere completely different’. The punch word tutt’ (a short form of tutta) adds the ‘completely’ flavor.
Dappertutto and ovunque: everywhere
For ‘everywhere’, Italian gives you two adverbs that overlap heavily but have different flavors. Dappertutto is the concrete, everyday word. You use it when you mean ‘in every spot I can think of’, often after a search. Ho cercato dappertutto: I looked in every room, every drawer, every shelf. Ovunque is the higher-tone cousin. It tilts toward the abstract or the emphatic, and shows up more often in writing, in song lyrics, and in speeches.
- Le chiavi sono sparite, ho cercato dappertutto.
The keys have vanished, I’ve looked everywhere. - D’estate a Lucca trovi turisti dappertutto.
In summer in Lucca you find tourists everywhere. - La sua musica si sente ovunque, dalla radio al supermercato.
His music can be heard everywhere, from the radio to the supermarket. - Caterina porta il telefono ovunque vada.
Caterina takes her phone everywhere she goes. - Ho la sabbia nelle scarpe dappertutto, dopo la spiaggia.
I’ve got sand in my shoes everywhere, after the beach. - Niccolò vorrebbe viaggiare ovunque, ma il lavoro lo trattiene.
Niccolò would like to travel everywhere, but his job holds him back.
A small but real grammar point: ovunque is also a conjunction meaning ‘wherever’ and, when followed by a verb, that verb takes the subjunctive. Ovunque vada means ‘wherever she goes’, with the subjunctive vada. Ovunque tu sia means ‘wherever you are’. Dappertutto doesn’t have this conjunction use. it’s purely an adverb. So if you find yourself wanting ‘wherever’ rather than ‘everywhere’, you need ovunque, not dappertutto.
A quick note on spelling: the correct form is dovunque (a near-synonym of ovunque), not d’ovunque. The word breaks down as dove plus the suffix -unque, the same suffix you find in chiunque, qualunque, comunque. Some learners write d’ovunque by mistake, on the analogy of d’altronde, but that form is wrong.
Da quelle parti: around there, in those parts
The phrase da quelle parti has no exact one-word English equivalent. It means ‘around there’, ‘in those parts’, ‘over that way’. It refers to a general area or region rather than a precise spot, and it shows up constantly when Italians talk about where someone lives, where they grew up, or where a place is roughly located. Notice that here parti is plural, unlike in da qualche parte and da nessuna parte.
- I miei nonni abitano in Puglia, vicino a Lecce. Sei mai stato da quelle parti?
My grandparents live in Puglia, near Lecce. Have you ever been around there? - Da quelle parti il pane si fa ancora nel forno a legna.
In those parts they still bake bread in the wood oven. - Lorenzo è cresciuto da queste parti, conosce tutti.
Lorenzo grew up around here, he knows everyone. - Vivete a Modena? Allora conoscete certamente quel ristorante da quelle parti.
You live in Modena? Then you certainly know that restaurant around there. - Da queste parti si dice “ciao bello” anche agli sconosciuti.
Around here we say “ciao bello” even to strangers.
The pair da queste parti (around here) and da quelle parti (around there) follows the same logic as the demonstratives questo (near the speaker) and quello (far from the speaker). You’ll hear them at the start of conversations about regions, dialects, food traditions, and small-town life. They’re warm and slightly nostalgic in tone.
Da una parte… dall’altra: on one hand, on the other
One more parte expression deserves a stop, because it looks similar to the others but does something completely different. Da una parte… dall’altra (parte) doesn’t talk about location at all. It’s the Italian way of saying ‘on one hand… on the other hand’, the structure you use when you’re weighing two sides of an argument or two contrasting feelings.
- Da una parte vorrei restare a Lucca, dall’altra mi piacerebbe provare a vivere altrove.
On one hand I’d like to stay in Lucca, on the other I’d like to try living somewhere else. - Da una parte il lavoro è interessante, dall’altra le ore sono troppe.
On one hand the job is interesting, on the other the hours are too many. - Da una parte sono contenta per Camilla, dall’altra mi mancherà.
On one hand I’m happy for Camilla, on the other I’ll miss her. - Da una parte capisco la sua scelta, dall’altra non sono d’accordo.
On one hand I understand his choice, on the other I don’t agree.
Notice the singular here: una parte and l’altra (parte), both singular, because the structure compares two sides only. Don’t confuse this with da queste parti or da quelle parti, which are about location and use the plural. The shape, the meaning, and the tone are all different. If you want to spot the difference fast, look at what comes after: locations follow the location phrases (da quelle parti vicino al lago), while contrast clauses follow the da una parte / dall’altra structure (dall’altra mi piacerebbe restare).
🎯 Mini-task: Pick altrove, dappertutto, ovunque, da quelle parti, or da una parte… dall’altra.
- Ho cercato i miei occhiali ______, in casa e in macchina.
- Mio cugino vive in Sicilia. Sei mai stato ______?
- ______ mi piacerebbe accettare il lavoro, ______ ho paura del trasferimento.
- Se l’azienda non rinnova il contratto, cercherò ______.
- ______ tu vada, il telefono ti seguirà.
👉 Show answers
1. ho cercato dappertutto (concrete, after a search)
2. sei mai stato da quelle parti (general area)
3. Da una parte mi piacerebbe… dall’altra ho paura (contrast)
4. cercherò altrove (one-word, slightly formal)
5. Ovunque tu vada (conjunction + subjunctive vada)
The somewhere vs anywhere trap for English speakers
English makes a sharp distinction between ‘somewhere’ (positive sentences) and ‘anywhere’ (questions, negatives, and free-choice contexts). ‘I left it somewhere’ but ‘did you see it anywhere?’ and ‘I didn’t see it anywhere’. Italian does not flip the form. Da qualche parte covers both ‘somewhere’ and ‘anywhere’ in questions, while negatives switch to da nessuna parte.
- L’ho letto da qualche parte. I read it somewhere. (positive)
- L’hai visto da qualche parte? Did you see it anywhere? (question, NOT da nessuna parte)
- Non l’ho visto da nessuna parte. I didn’t see it anywhere. (negative)
The trap: English speakers translating ‘did you see it anywhere?’ often reach for da nessuna parte because of the word ‘anywhere’. The result, l’hai visto da nessuna parte?, sounds odd. The correct Italian uses da qualche parte in the question, because no negation is present. The flip to da nessuna parte only happens with non.
For ‘anywhere’ in the free-choice sense (‘go anywhere you like’, ‘I’ll eat anywhere’), Italian usually reaches for dovunque or ovunque: vai ovunque tu voglia, mangio ovunque. The ‘no matter where’ meaning is exactly what those adverbs deliver, and the subjunctive after ovunque reinforces the freedom of choice.
Cheat sheet
| English | Italian (everyday) | Italian (formal / one-word) | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| somewhere | da qualche parte | (no one-word form) | L’ho letto da qualche parte. |
| anywhere (question) | da qualche parte | (no one-word form) | L’hai visto da qualche parte? |
| nowhere / not anywhere | da nessuna parte | (no one-word form) | Non l’ho visto da nessuna parte. |
| somewhere else | da un’altra parte | altrove | Cerchiamo da un’altra parte. / Cercherò altrove. |
| everywhere | dappertutto | ovunque | Ho cercato dappertutto. / Ovunque c’è gente. |
| wherever | (only one-word form) | ovunque + subjunctive | Ovunque tu vada, ti seguirò. |
| around there | da quelle parti | (no one-word form) | Sei mai stato da quelle parti? |
| around here | da queste parti | (no one-word form) | Da queste parti si mangia bene. |
| on one hand… on the other | da una parte… dall’altra | (no one-word form) | Da una parte sì, dall’altra no. |
Dialogue: the lost keys in Lucca
Renata and Federico are looking for the house keys in their apartment in Lucca. They’ve been searching for ten minutes. The conversation packs in da qualche parte, da nessuna parte, altrove, dappertutto, ovunque, and da quelle parti.
👩🏼🦰 Renata: Federico, le chiavi devono essere da qualche parte qui dentro. Le ho usate stamattina per entrare.
Federico, the keys must be somewhere in here. I used them this morning to get in.
👨🏽🦱 Federico: Ho già guardato dappertutto. Sul tavolo, sulla mensola, nel cestino in cucina, niente.
I’ve already looked everywhere. On the table, on the shelf, in the bowl in the kitchen, nothing.
👩🏼🦰 Renata: Hai controllato nella scarpiera? A volte le metto là quando torno di corsa.
Did you check the shoe cabinet? Sometimes I put them there when I come home in a rush.
👨🏽🦱 Federico: Là dentro non c’è niente. Le ho cercate ovunque, anche dove non ha senso cercarle.
There’s nothing in there. I’ve looked for them everywhere, even in places where it makes no sense to look.
👩🏼🦰 Renata: Forse le ho lasciate altrove. Magari in macchina, quando sono scesa al volo.
Maybe I left them somewhere else. Maybe in the car, when I got out in a hurry.
👨🏽🦱 Federico: Sono già andato in macchina, non ci sono da nessuna parte. Né sul sedile né sotto.
I already went to the car, they aren’t anywhere. Neither on the seat nor underneath.
👩🏼🦰 Renata: E vicino al portone? Sono passata da quelle parti stamattina, prima di salire.
And near the front door? I went past there this morning, before coming up.
👨🏽🦱 Federico: Da quelle parti non saprei. Aspetta, fammi pensare. Avevi la giacca azzurra?
Around there I wouldn’t know. Wait, let me think. Were you wearing the light blue jacket?
👩🏼🦰 Renata: Sì, quella appesa all’attaccapanni. Perché?
Yes, the one hanging on the coat rack. Why?
👨🏽🦱 Federico: (fruga nella tasca) Eccole. Erano qui, nella tasca della giacca. Le abbiamo cercate dappertutto tranne nel posto giusto.
(rummages in the pocket) Here they are. They were here, in the jacket pocket. We looked everywhere except in the right place.
👩🏼🦰 Renata: Da una parte sono contenta che siano apparse, dall’altra mi sento stupida.
On one hand I’m happy they showed up, on the other I feel stupid.
👨🏽🦱 Federico: Le chiavi sono come i calzini. Spariscono e ricompaiono altrove.
Keys are like socks. They disappear and reappear somewhere else.
Mini-challenge
🎯 Mini-challenge: Translate these into Italian using the place expressions from this guide.
- I’m looking for a coffee. Is there a bar around here?
- I can’t find my umbrella anywhere.
- If you don’t like this restaurant, let’s go somewhere else.
- On one hand I’d like to stay, on the other I have to go.
- Wherever you go, I’ll find you.
- I’ve looked everywhere for the receipt.
👉 Show answers
1. Cerco un caffè. C’è un bar da queste parti?
2. Non trovo il mio ombrello da nessuna parte.
3. Se non ti piace questo ristorante, andiamo da un’altra parte (or altrove).
4. Da una parte vorrei restare, dall’altra devo andare.
5. Ovunque tu vada, ti troverò. (subjunctive vada)
6. Ho cercato la ricevuta dappertutto.
Test your understanding
Take the quiz below to test what you’ve learned about Italian indefinite place expressions.
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Frequently asked questions
These questions about Italian indefinite place expressions come from real conversations among Italian learners online. For broader notes on indefinite words and their use, the Treccani vocabolario entry on altrove gives the standard reference.
What is the difference between da qualche parte and altrove?
Da qualche parte means ‘somewhere’ in the general sense: an unspecified location, no contrast with anywhere else. L’ho letto da qualche parte means ‘I read it somewhere’. Altrove means ‘somewhere else’: a different location, contrasted with the current one. Pazienza, cercherò altrove means ‘never mind, I’ll look elsewhere’. The everyday version of altrove is da un’altra parte, which is the more conversational alternative. Altrove is one word, slightly more formal, often preferred in writing.
Why does Italian use ‘da’ in da qualche parte?
Because parte (‘part’, ‘area’) is treated as a starting or reference point, the preposition da is the natural fit. The same logic applies to da nessuna parte, da un’altra parte, da quelle parti, da queste parti. English doesn’t use any preposition for ‘somewhere’, so this is a structural difference to memorize. Don’t say in qualche parte: it sounds wrong to Italian ears. Da qualche parte is the fixed form.
What’s the difference between dappertutto and ovunque?
Both translate as ‘everywhere’, but the tone differs. Dappertutto is concrete, everyday, often used after a search: ho cercato dappertutto means ‘I looked in every spot’. Ovunque is a touch more formal or abstract, common in writing, in song lyrics, in emphatic statements: la sua musica si sente ovunque. Ovunque has a second life as a conjunction meaning ‘wherever’, followed by the subjunctive: ovunque tu vada, ovunque tu sia. Dappertutto doesn’t have that conjunction use, it’s just an adverb.
How do I say ‘I didn’t see it anywhere’ in Italian?
Non l’ho visto da nessuna parte. The structure uses double negation: non before the verb, and da nessuna parte after. Italian double negation is mandatory and grammatical. The English speaker’s instinct to drop the non is wrong here: l’ho visto da nessuna parte is incorrect. The exception is when da nessuna parte comes before the verb, where non drops: da nessuna parte si trovava traccia di lui (a more literary phrasing).
What does da quelle parti mean?
Da quelle parti means ‘around there’, ‘in those parts’, ‘over that way’. It refers to a general area rather than a precise location. Sei mai stato da quelle parti? means ‘have you ever been around there?’. The companion phrase da queste parti means ‘around here’. Notice the plural parti here, unlike da qualche parte and da nessuna parte, which use the singular parte. The plural fits because you’re talking about a region, an area with extent, not a single spot.
Is da una parte… dall’altra about location?
No. Despite using the word parte, this structure has nothing to do with location. It means ‘on one hand… on the other hand’, the way English speakers introduce two sides of an argument or two contrasting feelings. Da una parte vorrei accettare, dall’altra ho paura: ‘on one hand I’d like to accept, on the other I’m afraid’. Both parts are singular (una parte, l’altra parte). Keep this structure separate in your mind from da queste parti and da quelle parti, which are plural and refer to actual regions.
Can I use ovunque to mean ‘anywhere’ in ‘go anywhere you like’?
Yes. For the free-choice ‘anywhere’ (English ‘no matter where’), Italian uses ovunque or dovunque, followed by the subjunctive. Vai ovunque tu voglia means ‘go anywhere you like’. Mangio ovunque means ‘I eat anywhere’. The form da qualche parte does not deliver the free-choice meaning, so don’t reach for it in those contexts. The mental shortcut: if you can replace ‘anywhere’ with ‘wherever’ in English without changing the meaning, you need ovunque, not da qualche parte.
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