Questions & Answers about Non voglio niente per ora.
Why does Italian use both non and niente here? Isn’t that a double negative?
Yes, it is a double negative by English standards, but in Italian that is completely normal.
- non = not
- niente = nothing / anything
Italian commonly uses non together with words like niente, nessuno, or mai:
- Non vedo nessuno = I don’t see anyone
- Non ho mai tempo = I never have time
So Non voglio niente is the standard Italian way to say I don’t want anything or I want nothing.
What does voglio mean exactly, and what verb does it come from?
Voglio is the first person singular form of the verb volere, which means to want.
The present tense of volere is irregular:
- io voglio = I want
- tu vuoi = you want
- lui/lei vuole = he/she wants
- noi vogliamo = we want
- voi volete = you all want
- loro vogliono = they want
So Non voglio means I don’t want.
Why isn’t io included? Shouldn’t it be ?