Italian Double Negatives How to Conjugate and Use Them

Your grade school English teacher probably told you repeatedly that you couldnt use more than one negative word in the same sentence. In Italian, though, the double negative is the acceptable format, and even three negative words can be used together in a sentence: Non viene nessuno. (No one is coming.)Non vogliamo niente/nulla. (We dont want anything.)Non ho mai visto nessuno in quella stanza. (I didnt see anyone in that room.) In fact, there is a whole host of phrases made up of double (and triple) negatives. The following table includes most of them. Double and Triple Negative ​Phrases non...nessuno no one, nobody non... niente nothing non...nulla nothing non...n...n neither...nor non...mai never non...ancora not yet non...pi no longer non...affatto not at all non...mica not at all (in the least) non...punto not at all non...neanche not even non...nemmeno not even non...neppure not even non...che only Here are some examples of how these phrases may be used in Italian: Non ha mai letto niente. (She read nothing.)Non ho visto nessuna carta stradale. (I didnt see any street signs.)Non abbiamo trovato nà © le chiavi nà © il portafoglio. (We found neither the keys nor the wallet.) Note that in the case of the negative expressions non...nessuno, non...niente, non...nà ©...nà ©, and non...che, they always follow the past participle. Observe the following examples: Non ho trovato nessuno. (I havent found anyone.)Non abbiamo detto niente. (We havent said anything.)Non ha letto che due libri. (She has read only two books.)Non ho visto niente di interessante al cinema. (I didnt see anything of interest at the cinema.) When using the combinations non...mica and non...punto, mica and punto always come between the auxiliary verb and the past participle: Non avete mica parlato. (They havent spoken at all.)Non à ¨ punto arrivata. (She hasnt arrived at all.) When using the expressions non...affatto (not at all), non...ancora (not yet), and non...pià ¹ (no more, no longer), the words affatto, ancora, or pià ¹ can be placed either between the auxiliary verb and the past participle or after the past participle: Non era affatto vero. Non era vero affatto. (It wasnt true at all.)Non mi sono svegliato ancora. Non mi sono ancora svegliato. (I hadnt woken yet.)Non ho letto pià ¹. Non ho pià ¹ letto. (I no longer read.)