Breakdown of Questa desolazione non piace mai a nessuno, è troppo inquietante.
essere
to be
questa
this (feminine)
non
not
troppo
too, too much, too many
a
to / at
piacere
to please / to like
mai
ever / never
nessuno
nobody
inquietante
creepy / disturbing
la desolazione
the desolation
Questions & Answers about Questa desolazione non piace mai a nessuno, è troppo inquietante.
Why are there three negative words (non, mai, nessuno) in the first half of this sentence?
This is called negative concord stacking. If a sentence is made negative by placing non before the verb, any additional negative concepts after the verb must also use their negative forms. English avoids double negatives, but Italian requires them, so non ... mai ... a nessuno works together to mean "nobody ever" (or literally, "not ... never ... to nobody").
Does the order of mai and a nessuno matter after the verb?
Why is the verb piace singular when the English translation says "Nobody ever likes..."?
This is a quick refresher on how piacere works. The grammatical subject of the sentence isn't "nobody"; it's Questa desolazione (This desolation). Literally, the Italian sentence is saying "This desolation is never pleasing to anybody." Because the desolation is singular, the verb takes the singular form piace.
What kind of word is inquietante?
It is the present participle of the verb inquietare (to disturb or worry), used here as an adjective. In Italian, present participles ending in -ante or -ente often translate to English adjectives ending in "-ing" or "-y", making this the perfect word for "creepy," "unsettling," or "disturbing.".
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