Question 1

Why is there a non before era if we already use né ... né for 'neither ... nor'?

Accepted Answer

In Italian, this type of negation requires a double negative structure. When the né ... né (neither ... nor) parts come after the verb, you must put non before the main verb. You are literally saying 'This dish was not neither cooked nor salty.'

Question 2

Why does né have an accent mark?

Accepted Answer

The accent mark distinguishes né (nor) from ne, which is a little pronoun meaning 'of it' or 'some of it'. Without the accent, the sentence would be confusing because it would look like you were using a completely different word!

Question 3

Why do we use the imperfect tense era instead of the passato prossimo è stato here?

Accepted Answer

We use the imperfect (era) because we are describing the physical state or condition the dish was in at that moment in the past. If we were talking about an action starting and finishing, we would use the passato prossimo, but here we are just setting a scene or describing a quality.

Question 4

Would cotto and salato change if the subject was feminine or plural?

Accepted Answer

Yes! Here they end in -o to agree with the masculine singular piatto. If the subject were feminine plural, like queste patate (these potatoes), the adjectives would have to match it: Queste patate non erano né cotte né salate.

Questo piatto non era né cotto né salato.

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