Learn Italian: Al ristorante ho provato molti piatti; ne ho mangiati di squisiti, ma anche di pessimi. - At the restaurant I tried many dishes; I ate some delicious ones, but also some terrible ones.

Al ristorante ho provato molti piatti; ne ho mangiati di squisiti, ma anche di pessimi.

At the restaurant I tried many dishes; I ate some delicious ones, but also some terrible ones.

Breakdown of Al ristorante ho provato molti piatti; ne ho mangiati di squisiti, ma anche di pessimi.

Questions & Answers about Al ristorante ho provato molti piatti; ne ho mangiati di squisiti, ma anche di pessimi.

Why is there a di before squisiti and pessimi?

This di is required when you use ne (meaning some of them) with an adjective. Because ne replaces the noun (piatti), Italian uses di + plural adjective to mean some [adjective] ones — in this case, some delicious ones and some terrible ones.

Why does the past participle mangiati end in -i instead of -o if it uses the auxiliary verb avere?

Normally, past participles with avere do not change their endings. However, when you use the partitive pronoun ne, the past participle must agree in gender and number with the noun ne replaces. Since ne stands for piatti (masculine plural), mangiato changes to mangiati.

Could I drop the di and just say ne ho mangiati squisiti?

No, that would be grammatically incorrect. Whenever ne replaces a noun and is modified by a standalone adjective to describe a portion of that noun, you must place di before the adjective.

Why use ne here instead of a direct object pronoun like li?