Breakdown of È buio, non gridiamo in cantina!
essere
to be
non
not
in
in / made of (material)
buio
dark
la cantina
the cellar
gridare
to shout
Questions & Answers about È buio, non gridiamo in cantina!
Why is it non gridiamo instead of using the infinitive for the negative command?
The rule of using non plus the infinitive only applies to the tu (singular informal you) form. For noi (we) and voi (plural you), the negative command just uses non plus the normal present tense verb. So, non gridiamo means 'let us not shout', while telling one person 'do not shout' would be non gridare.
Can gridiamo mean both 'we shout' and 'let us shout'?
Exactly! The noi form of the present tense doubles as the imperative for suggesting 'let us do something.' So gridiamo can be a simple statement ('we shout') or a suggestion ('let us shout'). Adding non turns it into the negative suggestion seen here.
Why do we say è buio instead of fa buio like we do with weather?
Why is it just in cantina and not nella cantina?
In Italian, we usually drop the article and just use the simple preposition in for specific rooms or areas of the house. You will see this same pattern with in cucina (in the kitchen), in bagno (in the bathroom), and in camera (in the bedroom).
Learn È buio, non gridiamo in cantina and more in Italian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free