What you say about “ne” and its French equivalent is very interesting . I have never studied French in depth, but I believe you are right.

With regard to ‘né … né …’, the following verb is always plural, e.g. ‘né io né Giovanna siamo andate al cinema’ (neither I nor Giovanna went to the cinema).

Cordiali saluti da Serena

It may be that Vince is/has been a student of French in which “ne” is used in virtually all negative constructions.

If this is the case it may help him to think of “ne” in Italian being used in some of the same ways as the French “en” although Italian has more variety of positioning the word.

With regard to “né … né … ” (neither … nor …), if neither item is plural is the following verb plural or singular?

You wrote: ‘I’ve tried but I just cannot see the word ‘ne’ and not turn the meaning into a negative. Non è facile.’

D’accordo, non è mica facile! However, I think you might be confusing ‘nè’ (with an accent), with ‘ne’ (without an accent). If you reread my blog you will see the difference. Just forget ‘nè’ (with the accent) for now because the other ‘ne’ is far more important. In fact it’s not just a ‘tricky little word’ but an ‘indispensible little word’, and it’s not possible to speak well in Italian without learning how to use it. Here’s an example: when I go to the fruttivendolo (grocery store) and I say to il negoziante (the store keeper) ‘vorrei degli zucchini per favore’ (I’d like some zucchini please), he will reply ‘quanti te ne do?’ (‘how many of them shall I give you?’). It just doesn’t make sense to say ‘quanti zucchini ti do?’ (‘how many zucchini shall I give you?’) because the subject of the conversation, zucchini, has already been stated and doesn’t need to be repeated. It’s just the same as in English, it would be ridiculous to keep repeating the subject of the conversation, however in Italian you must include the ne (of it / of them) in this construction.

Re. the byki lists, I’ll check it out with the boss.

Serena

I’ve tried but I just cannot see the word ‘ne’ and not turn the meaning into a negative. Non è facile.

Vince