2.1.5: Il pronome "ne"
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The pronoun ne
Ne is a tricky little word because it is essential in Italian while there is no exact equivalent in English. Consider the example:
- Anna: Quanti pomodori usi per fare il sugo? [ How many tomatoes are you using to make the sauce? ]
- Giuseppe: Ne uso sei o sette. [ I use six or seven (of them). ]
As you can see, in English it is not necessary to say of them , but in Italian you absolutely have to use ne (which here means “of them” ) . Keep in mind the following:
- Ne means of it or of them .
- Ne usually answers the questions Quanto? Quanta? Quanti? Quante? [ How much? How many? ], whether the question is explicit or just implied.
- Ne is usually followed by a quantity of some kind, like a number or an amount.
Some more examples:
- Quanti anni hai? > Ne ho 19.
- Non mangio molto pesce: ne mangio solo un po’ la domenica.
- Hai della farina? > No, non ne ho.
As is the case for ci, ne always goes before the conjugated verb, i.e.: ne mangio , ne ho 20 , etc. However, when there is a verb + an infinitive, it can go either before the conjugated verb or be attached to the end of the infinitive after you have dropped the last letter of the infinite, as in comprare > comprar . Consider the two possible answers to the following question:
Hai già comprato la farina per fare la focaccia?
- Sì, ma ne devo comprare ancora un po’.
- Sì, ma devo comprarne ancora un po’.
Ne is also used in many common phrases not only to mean of it/of them , but also to mean about it . We are not going to go into detail on this in this course; simply memorize the following expressions:
- Cosa ne dici? [ What do you say about it? ]
- Cosa ne pensi? [ What do you think about it? ]
- Cosa ne sai? [ What do you know about it? ] and Ne sai qualcosa? [ Do you know anything about it? ]
- Non me ne importa ; non me ne importa niente [ I don’t care about it; I don’t care about it at all. ]
- Non me ne frega niente! [ I don’t give a damn about it! ] and Chi se ne frega! [ Who cares! ] which are not very nice things to tell someone.