In this lesson I'm gonna explain how and when to use "ne" in Italian.
In the past, many people who learned Italian as a foreign language asked me what "ne" means and how to use this particle.
On the whole, it seems to me that this word causes much trouble to those learning Italian as a second language.
If you have trouble understanding what the pronominal particle "ne" means and how to use it, you've come to the right place!
In this lesson I'm gonna give you some practical examples to help you understand how to use "ne".
I prefer to start from real-world sentences, rather than from an abstract definition. I don't think that it is particularly useful to give an abstract definition of things such as the particle "ne", the particle "ci", articles, prepositions and so on.
I believe it's more useful to jump straight into example sentences and explain how to understand "ne" in each sentence.
So in this video I'm gonna give you some examples with different usages of the pronominal particle NE.
The first example could be: "Ascolta, non parlarmi più di questa cosa. Non ne voglio più parlare".
What does "Non ne voglio più parlare" mean? It means: I don't want to talk about this anymore, I don't want to talk about this topic anymore. So in this sentence "ne" stands for: about this, about this topic.
And the reference is clearly to what was being discussed in the previous sentences.
What's the difference between the sentence "Non voglio più parlare" and the sentence "Non ne voglio più parlare"?
"Non voglio parlare" is a generic sentence, I don't specify a topic about which I don't want to talk. In general, I don't want to talk.
By contrast, if I use NE, I do specify what I don't want to talk about. In particular, "ne" stands for: about this, about this topic.
Another example sentence could be this: "Ascolta, non parlarmi di Laura. Non ne voglio più parlare". What does it mean? I don't want to talk about her anymore.
Given that it is an invariable pronominal particle, NE never changes, irrespective of the fact that the subject is masculine or feminine.
Another example sentence with "ne" could: "Ne parlerò con il direttore".
What does it mean? I will talk with the director about this.
Another example could be this: "Non so come sia andato il progetto. I miei colleghi non me ne hanno più parlato".
What does it mean? My colleagues didn't talk anymore about the project.
I'm gonna give you another example!
"Vorrei sapere qual è la tua opinione su questa video-lezione. Cosa ne pensi?"
How should you understand the word NE in this sentence? It should be understood this way: What do you think about that?
I'm gonna give you another example with "ne" used in a similar fashion!
- No, non ne so niente.
What does it mean? I don't know anything about that.
Let's move on to the second usage of the word "ne", which is slightly different.
The first example sentence could be:
"Questi dolci mi piacciono un sacco. Ne vorrei altri".
What does "ne" mean in this sentence? I would like more such candies. In this case, "ne" doesn't replace an object, but it has a partitive function, so to speak.
Another example sentence could be: "Quel dolce sembra molto buono. Ne vorrei un po'!" What does it mean? I would like some cake (a bit of that cake).
Something which I'd like to point out is that in this case you must use "ne", because if you don't use "ne", the sentence is ungrammatical. In other words, this sentence is not complete without the particle "ne".
Like I said, in this case "ne" has a partitive function.
Another example sentence could be this:
- Quante pagine hai letto?
- Ne ho lette 30.
What does it mean? I have read 30 pages. That is, I have read 30 (of this thing). Given that we were talking about pages, I have read 30 pages.
Another example sentence could be:
- Quante birre ci sono nel frigo?
- Ce ne sono sette.
What does it mean? There are seven beers. That is, there are seven units (of this item). Given that the reference was to beers, there are 7 beers.
As we have seen, the particle NE can also have a partitive function and be used in reference to a quantity.
I hope that these examples have helped you understand the most common usages of the particle "ne".
I understand that, for someone who is not a native speaker, using this word is quite difficult. My advice is to watch this video multiple times, so that your brain can implicitly learn the pattern of sentences in which we use "ne". Listening to the video several times, your brain will figure out when and how to use "ne" and what are the most common usages of this particle.
In my opinion, in order to learn how to correctly use small words such as "ne", "ci", articles, prepositions, listening is paramount.
May the Force of the Italian language be with you!

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