Learn Italian: Non si tratta di soldi, si tratta di rispetto. - It is not about money, it is about respect.

Non si tratta di soldi, si tratta di rispetto.

It is not about money, it is about respect.

Breakdown of Non si tratta di soldi, si tratta di rispetto.

it is a matter of, it is about

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Questions & Answers about Non si tratta di soldi, si tratta di rispetto.

Why do we use si tratta di to say 'it is about'?

Trattarsi di is a fixed impersonal expression meaning 'to be about,' 'to be a matter of,' or 'to involve.' Whenever you want to express 'it's about [a topic or issue]' in Italian, you can't translate it literally with the verb essere. Instead, you must use si tratta di.

Could I just say Non è sui soldi to mean 'it's not about money'?

Not naturally. While su can mean 'about' when talking about the subject of a book or movie (for example, un libro su Roma), using essere su to describe the core issue of a situation sounds translated and strange. Si tratta di is the standard, natural way to phrase this.

Why is it just di soldi and di rispetto instead of dei soldi and del rispetto?

While Italian usually requires definite articles, there is an exception after the preposition di. When talking about general, abstract concepts or uncountable categories, the article is often dropped. Since 'money' and 'respect' are broad concepts here, di soldi and di rispetto are perfectly natural without the article.

This lesson teaches that impersonal si sentences use plural adjectives. Why doesn't that happen here?