Learn Italian: Non lavora nessuno nell'archivio, c'è solo polvere. - Nobody works in the archive, there is only dust.

Non lavora nessuno nell'archivio, c'è solo polvere.

Nobody works in the archive, there is only dust.

Breakdown of Non lavora nessuno nell'archivio, c'è solo polvere.

in / made of (material)

lavorare

to work

Questions & Answers about Non lavora nessuno nell'archivio, c'è solo polvere.

Why is there a non at the beginning if nessuno already means "nobody"?

In Italian, when a negative word like nessuno (nobody), niente (nothing), or mai (never) comes after the verb, you must put non before the verb. It feels like a double negative to English speakers (literally "Not works nobody"), but it's completely required in Italian grammar!

Could I change the word order to say Nessuno lavora instead?

Absolutely. If you move nessuno to the front of the sentence (before the verb), you must drop the non. So, Nessuno lavora nell'archivio is grammatically perfect and means the exact same thing as Non lavora nessuno.

Where does the word nell' come from in nell'archivio?

Nell' is a combined word (an articulated preposition). It merges the preposition in (in) and the article l' (the). Because archivio is a masculine word starting with a vowel, it takes the article l'. You can't say in l' in Italian; they must merge into nell'.

Why do we use c'è here instead of just è?