Breakdown of Stanotte il bambino non dorme.
non
not
il bambino
the child
dormire
to sleep
stanotte
tonight (this night); last night
Questions & Answers about Stanotte il bambino non dorme.
How would I change this sentence to say past tense: Last night the child did not sleep?
To use the passato prossimo you are currently learning, you need the helper verb avere and the past participle of dormire, which is dormito. The sentence becomes Stanotte il bambino non ha dormito.
Wait, does stanotte mean tonight or last night?
It can mean both! It is a shortened form of questa notte (this night). Because the verb dorme is in the present tense, it means tonight here. If the verb were in the past tense, stanotte would automatically mean last night.
Why does the translation say 'is not sleeping' instead of 'does not sleep'?
In Italian, the simple present tense covers both meanings. Il bambino non dorme can translate to the child does not sleep or the child is not sleeping. Italian does not require a separate '-ing' form to show an action is happening right now.
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