Niente is an indispensable word to have in your basic Italian vocabulary. It's a noun, it's a pronoun, it's an adjective, it's an adverb, and it can even be a simple filler word that doesn't mean anything in particular. This highly useful word can mean various things, but they all have some connection with "no," "nothing," or "not."
Let's remember that in Italian, the double negative is totally acceptable. It gets the meaning across! So, as opposed to English, we will often see non and niente in the same sentence expressing something negative. For example:
Pronto? Non sento niente.
Hello? I can't hear anything.
Caption 11, Adriano Olivetti La forza di un sogno Ep.2 - Part 20
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Of course, when we translate, we try to use correct English, so with the presence of non, we avoid a double negative and transform "nothing" into "anything."
We use niente to mean "no" or "not any" before a noun (or verb in the infinitive that is functioning as a noun).
Buoni! -E sì, invece di prendertela col buio, accendi la luce, sennò niente biscotti!
Good! -Oh yes, instead of getting upset with the darkness, turn on the light. Otherwise, no cookies!
Captions 61-62, Dixiland Buio mangiabiscotti
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If we see the little preposition di (of) before the word male (bad), then we're saying "nothing wrong," "not anything bad,"
Allora, insomma, erano un po' preoccupati, ma in realtà non ho fatto niente di male.
So, basically, they were a bit worried, but I didn't actually do anything wrong.
Captions 91-92, Che tempo che fa Raffaella Carrà - Part 3
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But when we have niente followed by male (with no preposition), then it means "not bad." This is an important distinction. Niente male is a wonderful alternative to "great!" We say something similar in English, too.
Anche a me sono successe un paio di disavventure niente male!
I also had a couple of things happen to me that weren't bad at all [pretty incredible]!
Caption 56, Francesca e Marika Gestualità
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In Italian, we can either say non male (not bad) or niente male (not bad at all), which is a bit stronger towards the positive end of the spectrum.
One way to say, "nothing at all," is niente di niente.
No, no, io non ho sentito niente, niente di niente.
No, no, I didn't hear anything — nothing at all.
Caption 18, La Ladra EP. 6 - Nero di rabbia - Part 8
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Another way to say "nothing at all" is un bel niente.
No, abbiamo un caso di suicidio e stiamo ce'... -Abbiamo, abbiamo. Lei non ha un bel niente, Manara, finché non l'autorizzo io, ha capito?
No, we have a case of suicide and we're lo'... -We have, we have. You have a big nothing Manara, until I authorize it, understand?
Captions 24-25, Il Commissario Manara S1EP1 - Un delitto perfetto - Part 3
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But to say, "not at all," it's per niente.
E a me non piacciono per niente.
And I don't like them at all.
Caption 43, Volare - La grande storia di Domenico Modugno Ep. 1 - Part 15
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OK, e niente, avevo portato qualcosa da mangiare,
OK, and nothing more. I had brought something to eat,
Caption 7, Il Commissario Manara S2EP1 - Matrimonio con delitto - Part 4
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We translated niente here as "nothing more," but actually, it could mean something like "that's all."
There are undoubtedly other ways to use niente, such as:
Fa niente (it doesn't matter).
Di niente (you're welcome, don't mention it).
Non ho capito niente (I didn't understand anything).
Keep your eyes and ears open for the word niente as you watch Yabla videos, or any other videos. It's really all over the place!
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