A2 · The pronouns
The pronouns ne and ci
English leaves the slot empty; Italian may not.
At a glance
- Remember
- Before a quantity comes ne.
- Form
- ne voglio treI want three of them
- Signal words
- ne
- ci
- ci vuole
- ce ne sono
- Trap
- Wrong:Quante mele vuoi? — Voglio tre.Right:Quante mele vuoi? — Ne voglio tre.
Your turn
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The form
The forms and what they mean
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in Italian.
negation
| I want three of them | ne voglio tre |
| we will talk about it tomorrow | ne parliamo domani |
| I have not got any | non ne ho |
| I am going there tomorrow | ci vado domani |
| it takes an hour | ci vuole un’ora |
| I will see to it | ci penso io |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
Before a quantity, ne is compulsory.
Quanti anni ha? — Ne ha trenta.How old is he? — He is thirty.
ne stands for di plus a thing.
Non ne so nulla.I know nothing about it.
ci replaces a place.
In centro? Ci andiamo a piedi.Into town? We are walking there.
After ne the participle agrees with the quantity.
Di mele ne ho comprate due.Apples — I bought two.
Example sentences
Quante sigarette fumi? — Non ne fumo.How many cigarettes do you smoke? — I do not smoke.
Di questo ne parliamo dopo.We will talk about that later.
Al mare ci andiamo ogni estate.We go to the seaside every summer.
Ci vogliono due ore in treno.It takes two hours by train.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
A quantity does not stand alone in Italian. Voglio tre sounds unfinished; it is ne voglio tre. English has no word in that slot — I want three is complete — and that is exactly why it gets forgotten: there is nothing to translate, so there is nothing to remember.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
ne means of it or of them and stands with quantities: Quante mele vuoi? — Ne voglio tre. Literally, I want three of them.
This is the piece with no English shape at all, and the trouble is not that it is difficult but that nothing prompts it. English answers how many do you want with I want three, and the sentence is complete. Italian cannot: voglio tre sounds as though somebody stopped halfway. The ne is compulsory, and it is missing precisely because your own language never asks for it.
It also stands for di plus a thing: Ne parliamo domani — we will talk about it tomorrow. And after ne the participle agrees with the quantity: Ne ho comprate tre.
ci means there or to there: Vai a Roma? — Sì, ci vado domani. Here English does have a word, and it is even in roughly the same job — I am going there — so ci is the easier of the two. The difference is only the position, in front of the verb rather than after it.
And ci sits inside a set of fixed phrases: c'è, ci vuole(it takes)ci penso io(I will see to it) Those are learnt whole rather than analysed.
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The verbs on this page, in every form: avere · andare · volere · parlare · sapere · comprare