Learn Italian: Quanti contatti hai in questo settore? Ne ho molti. - How many contacts do you have in this sector? I have many of them.

Quanti contatti hai in questo settore? Ne ho molti.

How many contacts do you have in this sector? I have many of them.

Breakdown of Quanti contatti hai in questo settore? Ne ho molti.

in / made of (material)

Questions & Answers about Quanti contatti hai in questo settore? Ne ho molti.

Why do we use Ne in Ne ho molti instead of just saying Ho molti?

In Italian, you cannot just say 'I have many' without pointing back to what you have. The pronoun ne replaces the noun and means 'of them' or 'of it'. So Ne ho molti literally means 'I have many of them' (contacts). If you drop ne, the sentence sounds incomplete to an Italian speaker.

Why is it Quanti instead of just Quanto?

The word quanto (how much / how many) acts like an adjective here, so it has to match the noun it describes. Since contatti is masculine and plural, quanto changes its ending to become quanti.

If I wanted to change the answer to 'I know many of them', would I use sapere or conoscere?

You would use conoscere, making the sentence Ne conosco molti. You use conoscere because you are talking about being familiar with people (contacts). Sapere is only used for knowing facts or knowing how to do a skill.

Why does molti end in -i at the very end of the sentence?