Breakdown of Lo studente non fa altro che protestare contro l'esame.
non
not
lo studente
the student
fare
to do / to make
l'esame
the exam (m)
altro
other, another
che
than (in comparisons)
contro
against (in opposition to)
protestare
to protest
Questions & Answers about Lo studente non fa altro che protestare contro l'esame.
Why does protestare follow che without any extra prepositions like di or a?
The construction non fare altro che is a fixed phrase meaning 'to do nothing but'. In Italian, it is always followed directly by a present infinitive, like protestare, with no linking prepositions needed between che and the verb.
Can I change the tense of fare to talk about the past or future?
Yes! While the infinitive (protestare) stays the same, you can conjugate fare to change the timeframe. For example, to say 'the student did nothing but protest', you would use the passato prossimo: lo studente non ha fatto altro che protestare.
Is it possible to add niente and say non fa nient'altro che protestare?
Why doesn't the preposition contro combine with the article l' into a single word?
Unlike basic prepositions such as di, a, or in, the word contro (against) does not merge with definite articles to form articulated prepositions. You will always write it as a separate word directly before the article, as in contro l'esame.
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