Word
Ti prego, non dire niente alla mamma.
Meaning
I beg you, don't say anything to mom.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Ti prego, non dire niente alla mamma.
non
not
alla
to the / at the (feminine singular)
niente
nothing
dire
to say, to tell
Questions & Answers about Ti prego, non dire niente alla mamma.
Why is dire in the infinitive here instead of being conjugated?
In Italian, when you give a negative command to someone you address informally as tu, you always use non followed by the infinitive of the verb. So 'don't say' translates to non dire. If you were giving a positive command, you would use the conjugated imperative form, like di' (say).
I usually translate prego as 'you're welcome' or 'please'. What does it mean here?
While prego is commonly used as a polite response meaning 'you're welcome', it is actually the first-person singular conjugation of the verb pregare (to pray or to beg). Combined with the direct object pronoun ti (you), ti prego literally means 'I beg you'.
Why do we use niente (nothing) instead of a word for 'anything'?
Italian frequently uses double negatives. When a sentence has non before the verb, words like niente or nulla are used after the verb to mean 'anything'. So non dire niente translates word-for-word as 'do not say nothing', which is the correct and natural way to express 'don't say anything' in Italian.
Why is it alla mamma instead of just a mamma?