Breakdown of Gli specialisti non hanno capito niente.
Questions & Answers about Gli specialisti non hanno capito niente.
How do we know if specialisti refers to men or women?
Words ending in -ista like specialista are the same for men and women in the singular (lo specialista, la specialista). But in the plural, they change: -isti is for a group of men or a mixed group, and -iste is for an all-female group. So specialisti here means male or mixed specialists. Why do we use the article Gli instead of I for this plural word?
We use gli for masculine plural nouns that start with an s followed by another consonant (like the sp in specialisti). The singular form uses the article lo (lo specialista). Why are there two negative words (non and niente)? Doesn't that make a positive?
Italian requires a double negative when a negative word like niente comes after the verb. You must put non before the verb. While it looks like it means they did not understand nothing, this is simply the standard Italian way to say they did not understand anything. Since Gli specialisti is plural, why doesn't the past participle agree and become capiti?
Because the helper verb here is avere (hanno). In past tense forms like this, the past participle (capito) only changes its ending to match the subject if the helper verb is essere. With avere, it keeps the default -o ending. Learn Gli specialisti non hanno capito niente and more in Italian
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