Breakdown of Questo concetto è complicato, ma ciò non implica niente.
essere
to be
questo
this (masculine)
ma
but
non
not
niente
nothing
ciò
that / this (abstract concepts)
il concetto
the concept
complicato
complicated
implicare
to imply
Questions & Answers about Questo concetto è complicato, ma ciò non implica niente.
Why use ciò here instead of quello?
ciò is an invariable pronoun used to refer to a whole idea, statement, or abstract concept. Here, it refers to the entire previous phrase (the fact that the concept is complicated). While you could use quello as an abstract pronoun, ciò is specifically designed for these abstract situations and does not change for gender or number.
Could I use questo instead of ciò in the second half of the sentence?
Yes, you could say ma questo non implica niente. When referring back to a general idea, questo and ciò are often interchangeable. The difference is that ciò is strictly a pronoun for abstract ideas, while questo can also act as an adjective attached to a specific noun (as it does in questo concetto).
Why are both non and niente used in non implica niente?
What is the infinitive of implica and are there any spelling quirks?
The infinitive is implicare (to imply). Because it ends in -care, you have to add an 'h' to the tu and noi forms in the present tense (like tu implichi) to maintain the hard 'c' sound. However, the form used here, ciò implica (that implies), simply takes the regular third-person singular ending without needing an 'h'.
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