Question 1

Why does altrui come after the noun, and does its ending change to match the plural errori?

Accepted Answer

altrui is an invariable possessive adjective meaning "other people's" or "of others". It never changes its ending to match the noun's gender or number. Also, unlike standard possessives like mio or tuo which usually go before the noun, altrui must strictly be placed after the noun it modifies.

Question 2

Why do we need the article gli here when English just says "other people's mistakes" without "the"?

Accepted Answer

In Italian, nouns modified by possessive adjectives usually require a definite article. Since errori is a masculine plural noun starting with a vowel, it takes gli. Even though altrui comes after the noun, the noun itself still needs its normal article, just as it would in gli errori miei.

Question 3

Could I say gli errori degli altri instead of using altrui?

Accepted Answer

Yes, gli errori degli altri (the mistakes of the others) or gli errori di altre persone (the mistakes of other people) are perfectly valid alternatives. altrui is simply a more concise and slightly more elegant way to express "of others", widely used in both everyday speech and formal writing.

Question 4

Why is there a non before the verb if mai already means "never"?

Accepted Answer

Italian requires a double negative construction when words like mai (never) or nessuno (nobody) are placed after the verb. You must put non before the verb to make the sentence grammatically correct. You could only drop the non if you placed mai before the verb for emphasis, as in Mai giudico gli errori altrui, but that sounds quite poetic or theatrical.

Non giudico mai gli errori altrui.

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