Learn Italian: Non ci interessa affatto una fusione inattuabile. - We are not at all interested in an unfeasible merger.

Non ci interessa affatto una fusione inattuabile.

We are not at all interested in an unfeasible merger.

Breakdown of Non ci interessa affatto una fusione inattuabile.

to interest (mi interessa = I am interested in)

Questions & Answers about Non ci interessa affatto una fusione inattuabile.

Why is affatto placed right after the verb instead of at the end of the sentence?

In Italian, emphatic negative reinforcers like affatto usually go immediately after the verb they modify (Non ci interessa affatto). Unlike English, where "at all" often gets pushed to the very end of the sentence, Italian keeps the negation package tightly grouped around the verb.

If the translation says "We are not interested", why does the sentence use the singular verb interessa?

The verb interessare works just like piacere. The actual subject of the Italian sentence is una fusione inattuabile (an unfeasible merger), which is singular. The pronoun ci means "to us". So literally the sentence means "An unfeasible merger does not at all interest us."

Could we replace affatto with per niente here?

Yes, you can use per niente interchangeably with affatto in this context. It would also sit immediately after the verb: Non ci interessa per niente una fusione inattuabile.

Does affatto always need non in the sentence to mean "not at all"?

Yes, when used in a full sentence to mean "not at all", affatto requires a negative word like non before the verb. Without non, affatto historically means "entirely", though in modern Italian it is mostly used on its own as a short answer (like responding just "Affatto!") to mean "Not at all!"