Breakdown of Se espellono il mio alleato, non voto più senza di lui.
lui
he
non
not
mio
my
senza
without
se
if
più
more / anymore (with 'non')
di
(linking a preposition to a following personal pronoun)
espellere
to expel
votare
to vote
l'alleato
the ally (m)
Questions & Answers about Se espellono il mio alleato, non voto più senza di lui.
Why is there a di between senza and lui? Can I just say senza lui?
When prepositions like senza (without), dopo (after), and contro (against) are followed by a personal pronoun like lui (him), you generally must insert the preposition di between them. Because lui is a tonic (stressed) pronoun, the correct structure is senza di lui. If senza were followed by a noun instead of a pronoun, you would drop the di (for example, senza il mio alleato).
In the phrase non voto più, why does più come right after the verb instead of at the end of the sentence?
In Italian, the negative adverb più (anymore / no longer) almost always directly follows the conjugated verb. You frame the verb with non and più, creating non voto più. Unlike English, where 'anymore' often gets pushed to the very end of the sentence, Italian keeps più closely attached to the verb it modifies.
Why does this sentence use the present tense (voto) for a future consequence?
In Italian 'if' clauses (the first conditional), it is extremely common to use the present tense for both the condition (se espellono) and the result (non voto) when the consequence is seen as immediate, certain, or a solid personal rule. You absolutely could use the future tense here (non voterò più), but using the present tense makes the speaker's refusal sound much more definitive.
What is the infinitive of espellono, and is it a regular verb?
The infinitive is espellere (to expel). Its present tense is completely regular (io espello, loro espellono). However, you should note that its past participle is irregular (espulso), so in the perfect tense you would say hanno espulso il mio alleato.
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