Non smaltiamo la terracotta finché non termina la prima cottura.

not

Breakdown of Non smaltiamo la terracotta finché non termina la prima cottura.

• finché: until
• primo: first
• terminare: to end

Questions & Answers about Non smaltiamo la terracotta finché non termina la prima cottura.

What does finché non mean here?

Here, finché non means until.

So finché non termina la prima cottura means until the first firing ends / is finished.

A useful thing to remember is that finché can have slightly different meanings depending on context:

• until
• as long as

In this sentence, it clearly marks the endpoint in time: glazing happens only after that stage is over.

Why are there two non words in the sentence?

They do different jobs.

• The first non is the real negation:
  Non smaltiamo = We do not glaze

• The second non, after finché, is part of the common Italian pattern finché non = until

So this is not a double negative in the English sense. It does not mean until it does not end. It simply means until it ends.

This second non is often called expletive or pleonastic non: it appears in the structure, but it does not add an extra negative meaning in English.

Is smaltiamo from smaltare or smaltire?