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- Topic: Italian >
- "Non ho alcuna risposta."
83 Comments
For some reason, in negative sentences only the singulars alcun/alcuno/alcuna are used (or nessuno/nessuna), and nouns are to the singular too. Conversely, in positive sentences only the plurals alcuni/alcune are used, and del/della/dello for uncountable singulars. ...I copied this from another blog. I can't remember whose it was but I found it most helpful. Also, in answer to someone else, no, one should not use double negatives in English but they are correct in Italian - non.....mai, non....niente, etc
this may be the site referred to above by darkpeak: https://blogs.transparent.com/italian/qualche-alcuni-o-dei/
Already answered that earlier in the comments. The standard Italian phrase would translate literally to English as "I don't have any answer" but the more common English phrase would be "I don't have any answers" so the more common English phrase is used to translate it, even though the Italian is in the singular.
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I was wondering that, too. I found that in positive phrases, "alcuno" means "some, a few" and mostly has a plural form (alcuni, alcune). In negative phrases though, "alcuno" means "any" and has a singular form (alcuno, alcuna).
From what I’ve gathered reading these discussions, “alcuno/a” (singular) means “some or a few,” but “qualsiasi” (singular) means “whatever or whichever” (with an inference of choice, as in “whichever you prefer”). So these seem very different in the singular.
Maybe what you meant to ask was what the difference is between “alcuni/e” (plural) and “qualsiasi” (plural), which both mean “any.”
I could also assume you meant to ask the difference between “alcuna” and “qualche,” because that’s what I was wondering. And after doing some light internet surfing, I came across this: https://blogs.transparent.com/italian/qualche-alcuni-o-dei/
I hope this helps!
244
So would Nessun be interchangeable with Alcuna here if the subject was masculne? Is Alcuna used as the subject-risposta- is feminine, otherwise is it best to use Nessun or Alcuno for a masculine negative? Sorry if this seems a silly question! Any help (qualche aiutare?) would be appreciated, especially from a native speaker... Thanks in advance!!
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Well, yes. You need the "an" before answer, or "any" before answers. However, there are contexts where in the plural only, "I do not have answers" would be justified.
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I find it strange that alcun with suffix can mean a few, any or certain depending on the sentence
2612
In English they are not. Although "response" is an answer, an "answer" is not necessarily a response. It could be a "facit" or "solution". Here, in the given sentence, it means that the person does not have any solutions.
We are talking about literal translation from English to Italian. So, if in Italian there is only one word to substitute it, it does not make sense if they are same in English. On the other hand, we must brainstorm again to understand if the person might not have any solution or a word to say against something? Some tests in here sound jokes.
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I believe that 1) has been already covered in this thread and 2) cannot be translated from English to Italian because it's not a correctly formed English sentence i.e respond must be replaced by response in English to be correctly formed using the right English grammatical rules and construction. I hope this helps.
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Once again astroneero: I am well aquainted with how the Italian word "risposta" is used in Italy, and it is you who should aquaint yourself with how native English speakers use their language. You will also find that English is far less ambiguous than many other languages, including Italian, leading to clarity of meaning. Whenever you engage in speaking English, I would advise you not to transfer Italian grammar to English, and take heed whenever a native corrects you.
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astroneero: In Italian there may be no difference, but as you wrote your comment in English, you are quite wrong to state that "answer" and "response" are univocal. In English they are not, as the following link will clarify the point.
https://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-answer-and-vs-response/
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Non ho alcuna risposta. The correct answer is, "I do not have any answers. Why isn't it "risposte" the plural form.
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"I've not had any reply" is acceptable in English. I've heard the expression loads of times.
I believe my English teacher and many websites would disagree (there are exceptions but)
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/grammar/british-grammar/negation http://esl.about.com/library/beginner/blsomeany.htm http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/rules/some.htm
There seems to be a limit on how far down the tree we can go to post, so I'm posting up here - you wrote : " Since this is a language learning site I think it would be beneficial to point out rules (even if not observed everywhere or all the time) that may have been the reason an answer was marked as wrong."
I agree.. people should know the "grammatical rules" along with "grammatical usage." Language is fluid, but it's good to know the rules. Thank you.
Interesting, I'm a native speaker, and the sentence "don't you have some friends you can play with?" is so common you wouldn't think twice upon hearing it. "Can't you bring some cookies?" You would NEVER hear "Can't you bring ANY cookies." It would sound weird to a native speaker... the context would have to be very very specific for it to sound normal. I am trying to think of a context where I would hear that. .. something like - We've run out of cookies.. - Really? There's not one left? Can't you bring ANY cookies?
Believe me, I understand. There is certainly a difference between what many people say and what is proper English. I've lived in the US for over 26 years (California, Colorado, Georgia, South Carolina) and I've tried very hard to make sure my children know the difference between 'what people around here say' and what is correct (in our case American) English. Since this is a language learning site I think it would be beneficial to point out rules (even if not observed everywhere or all the time) that may have been the reason an answer was marked as wrong.
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nekogaijin. You say the rule "question in negative becomes any" does not exist. Please read the attached link.: https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/adjectives-determiners-some-any.htm
I think the sentence should read: Non ho alunca risposte. Please advise. Thank you.