Learn Italian: Non sono triste.

Non sono triste.

I am not sad.

Breakdown of Non sono triste.

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Questions & Answers about Non sono triste.

Why is non placed at the very beginning of the sentence?

In Italian, to make a statement negative, you just put non immediately before the verb. Because the subject word for 'I' (io) is usually dropped, non lands right before the verb sono (am) at the start of the sentence.

Where is the word for 'I' in this sentence?

Italian usually drops subject pronouns like io (I) because the verb itself tells us who the subject is. The verb sono means 'I am', so you don't need to say Io non sono triste unless you really want to emphasize that you are not sad, as opposed to someone else.

Since sono can also mean 'they are', how do we know it means 'I am' here?

We know it means 'I am' because of the adjective triste (sad). Triste is a singular word. If the sentence meant 'They are not sad,' the adjective would have to be plural to match the subject, making the sentence Non sono tristi.

Does triste change depending on whether a man or a woman is speaking?

No. Adjectives that end in -e in their singular form, like triste (sad) or felice (happy), are used for both masculine and feminine subjects. It stays exactly the same whether a man or a woman says it.