Non trovo nulla nel cassetto.

I can't find anything in the drawer.

Breakdown of Non trovo nulla nel cassetto.

• io: I
• trovare: to find
• in: in
• non: not

Questions & Answers about Non trovo nulla nel cassetto.

Why does Italian use both non and nulla here? Isn’t that a double negative?

Yes, by English logic it looks like a double negative, but in Italian this is normal. Italian often uses negative concord: the verb is negated with non, and another negative word like nulla, niente, mai, or nessuno appears too.

So Non trovo nulla is the standard everyday pattern.

A useful rule:

• if the negative word comes after the verb, you normally keep non
• if it comes before the verb, non is often dropped

For example:

• Non trovo nulla
• Nessuno è arrivato

What exactly does nulla mean here? Is it nothing or anything?

Grammatically, nulla means nothing. But after non, English usually prefers anything rather than nothing.

So:

• Non trovo nulla literally lines up with I find nothing
• natural English is usually I can’t find anything or I don’t find anything

So the Italian word itself is negative, even if English changes the wording.

Can I use niente instead of nulla?