Learn Italian: Niente viene esportato senza il permesso del direttore. - Nothing is exported without the manager's permission.

Niente viene esportato senza il permesso del direttore.

Nothing is exported without the manager's permission.

Breakdown of Niente viene esportato senza il permesso del direttore.

the manager / the director

niente

nothing

Questions & Answers about Niente viene esportato senza il permesso del direttore.

Why does this sentence use viene esportato instead of è esportato?

Using venire as the auxiliary verb instead of essere emphasizes the action or process (the dynamic passive) rather than a completed state. It highlights that the act of exporting routinely requires permission. Note that venire can only replace essere in simple tenses, like the present tense used here.

I thought Italian uses double negatives with words like niente. Why isn't there a non in this sentence?

You only use non when the negative word comes after the verb (like Non viene esportato niente). Because niente is the subject and comes before the verb in this sentence, it acts as the sole negative marker, so no non is needed.

Does esportato have to agree with niente? Is niente masculine?

Yes, in passive constructions, the past participle (esportato) must agree with the subject in gender and number. The pronoun niente is treated as masculine and singular by default, which is why it takes the masculine singular -o ending.

Why do we use the combined preposition del (di + il) instead of just di direttore?