Question 1

Where does se ne va come from?

Accepted Answer

It comes from the verb andarsene, which means "to leave" or "to go away." This is a special type of verb that has pronouns built into it. It combines andare (to go), the pronoun si, and the particle ne. Since "the salesman" is "he", andare conjugates to va, giving us se ne va.

Question 2

Why is it se ne instead of si ne?

Accepted Answer

In Italian, whenever the pronoun si comes right before another little word like ne (or lo, la, etc.), the i in si changes to an e to make it flow better. So, si + ne becomes se ne.

Question 3

Could I just use va via instead of se ne va?

Accepted Answer

Yes! Andare via and andarsene both mean "to go away" or "to leave." Andarsene is very common in everyday spoken Italian and gives a slightly stronger feeling of "removing oneself" from the current location.

Question 4

Why is there no di after dopo here? Doesn't Italian usually say dopo di?

Accepted Answer

You only need to add di when dopo is followed by a pronoun, like dopo di me (after me) or dopo di lui (after him). When dopo is followed by a noun or a time phrase like dieci minuti, it connects directly without di.

Il venditore finalmente se ne va dopo dieci minuti.

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