Breakdown of Non gliene frega niente della nostra opinione.
niente
nothing
l'opinione
the opinion (f)
fregare
to matter, to care (non me ne frega niente = I don't care at all)
Questions & Answers about Non gliene frega niente della nostra opinione.
The translation says 'He does not care', but where is 'he' in gliene frega?
The verb here is the colloquial pronominal verb fregarsene (to not care). It works similarly to piacere. The literal structure is 'Nothing matters to him (gli) of it (ne)'. Therefore, gli is the indirect object meaning 'to him', while the actual grammatical subject is niente (nothing).
If ne means 'about it', why do we also say della nostra opinione at the end?
You have spotted a classic feature of colloquial Italian! The pronoun ne (hidden inside gliene) anticipates the actual topic, della nostra opinione. This double-mention is grammatically redundant but extremely common in everyday speech to add emotional emphasis, much like saying 'He doesn't care about it, our opinion.'
Why does gli + ne become gliene instead of being written as two separate words?
Since the current lesson focuses on entrarci, could I just say Non c'entra niente della nostra opinione here?
No, because they mean different things. Non c'entrare niente means 'to have nothing to do with' (e.g., 'He has nothing to do with our opinion'). Fregarsene describes a person's lack of interest. While both use niente to show a total lack of something, entrarci is about objective relevance, whereas fregarsene is about a subjective attitude.
Is fregarsene appropriate for all situations?
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