Ragazzi, non tremate e non toccate la candela del fantasma.

Questions & Answers about Ragazzi, non tremate e non toccate la candela del fantasma.

Why are the verbs non tremate and non toccate conjugated, instead of using the infinitive?
Because we are addressing a group (ragazzi). In the negative imperative, only the informal singular (tu) uses non + infinitive (like non tremare). For the plural voi, you just use non + the regular present tense form, which gives us non tremate and non toccate.
Would the sentence change if I only spoke to one person?
Yes! If you were warning just one friend, you would use the tu form. The negative imperative for tu uses the infinitive, so you would say: Ragazzo, non tremare e non toccare la candela del fantasma.
Why is it del fantasma if fantasma ends in -a? Shouldn't it be della?
Fantasma (ghost) is a masculine noun, even though it ends in -a. Many words of Greek origin ending in -ma are masculine in Italian (like il problema or il sistema). Therefore, you combine di (of) + il (the) to get del.

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