Non capisco il senso di questa frase.

I

Breakdown of Non capisco il senso di questa frase.

• di: of
• non: not
• questa: this

Questions & Answers about Non capisco il senso di questa frase.

What does non do here, and why does it come before capisco?

Non is the standard way to make a sentence negative in Italian. It usually goes directly before the verb.

So:

• capisco = I understand
• non capisco = I do not understand / I don’t understand

This is very regular in Italian:

• Non so = I don’t know
• Non ho tempo = I don’t have time
• Non vedo niente = I don’t see anything

So in Non capisco il senso di questa frase, non simply negates capisco.

What form is capisco?

Capisco is the first person singular of the verb capire in the present tense.

So:

• capire = to understand
• capisco = I understand

Full present tense of capire:

• io capisco = I understand
• tu capisci = you understand
• lui/lei capisce = he/she understands
• noi capiamo = we understand
• voi capite = you all understand
• loro capiscono = they understand

A learner may notice that capire does not become capo or something similar for I. Instead, it becomes capisco. That is normal for many Italian -ire verbs that use -isc- in some forms, such as:

• finire → finisco
• preferire → preferisco
• capire → capisco