Breakdown of Se i giornalisti scrivono dello scandalo, ne parleremo.
di
of, from
parlare
to speak / to talk
scrivere
to write
se
if
ne
of it / of them / some (pronoun)
il giornalista
journalist
lo scandalo
scandal
Questions & Answers about Se i giornalisti scrivono dello scandalo, ne parleremo.
Why do we use ne here instead of lo to mean "it"?
Why does the sentence use dello scandalo instead of sullo scandalo?
While su can mean "on" or "about" a topic, verbs like scrivere (to write) and parlare (to talk) very frequently pair with the preposition di to mean "about." The word dello is simply the preposition di combined with the definite article lo, which is used because scandalo starts with s + consonant.
Why is it i giornalisti? Doesn't the singular word giornalista end in an -a, which usually makes it feminine?
Nouns ending in -ista (like giornalista or dentista) are special. In the singular, they end in -a for both men and women. But in the plural, they change to match the gender: masculine becomes -isti (i giornalisti) and feminine becomes -iste (le giornaliste). Here, the masculine plural is used for a mixed or general group.
Why is the first verb in the present tense (scrivono) but the second is in the future tense (parleremo)?
This is a standard conditional sentence for a likely real-world event. In Italian, just like in English, the condition right after se (if) stays in the present tense ("if they write"), while the consequence is in the future tense ("we will talk").
Learn Se i giornalisti scrivono dello scandalo, ne parleremo and more in Italian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free