How to use Niente, Nessuno and Nulla in Italian

Are you struggling to understand the difference between nessuno, niente and nulla in Italian? If so, you're not alone! Many Italian learners find these three words confusing and difficult to use correctly. Take the guesswork out of learning these words with my new video!

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Nessuno/Nessuna/Nessun = can (but not always) be translated to the english not / any.

Let’s look carefully at nessuno

Nessuno can be used both as an adjective and as a pronoun .

When it is used as an adjective, nessuno will be placed before the noun and it will be translated to ANY in negative sentences in English.

For example:

•  Non ho nessun amico – I don’t have any friend 
•  Non hai nessuna riunione oggi – You don’t have any meetings today

Nessuno needs to match gender which means that you have 4 possible forms of this adjective. Luckily for you learners there isn’t a plural version! 

•  Nessun for the masculine nouns. 
•  Nessuno this version is used as a pronoun and it means “no-one, nobody”. 
•  Nessuna is used for feminine nouns 
•  Nessun’ is used before feminine nouns that begin with a vowel nessun’amica

BE CAREFUL! This is where it gets confusing.

The English word Any can also be translated as “qualsiasi” in Italian. 

This happens only when ANY takes on the meaning  of “NO MATTER WHICH”

Let me give you an example:

"Which candy do you want? and I answer ANY"… meaning I don’t care… it doesn’t matter which one… 

In Italian I will say: "Quale caramella vuoi? Qualsiasi!"

BUT any will be translated to nessuno/nessuna/nessun only in negative sentences, like in the examples above.

Nessuno can also be used as a pronoun.

What is a pronoun? A pronouns is a little word that is used in substitution of another one. So that you don’t have to repeat something that has already been mentioned.

In this case Nessuno means nobody / no one, none or anybody / anyone. It will be used to refer to people and it is followed by a verb at the 3rd person singular.

•  Non c’è nessuno – there isn’t anyone / nobody is here
•  Nessuno è venuto – nobody came
•  Nessuno di noi parla portoghese – none of us speak Portuguese

What happens when we have negative sentences?

If nessuno is at the beginning of the sentence you will not need to add a negative particle NON. Look at the sentences that we just read:

• Nessuno è venuto. Nessuno is at the beginning and it will not need a double negative with the particle NON.

BUT on the other hand if I write: NON c’e’ NESSUNO and nessuno is at the end of the sentence you will need to follow the formula non + verb + nessuno.

For example, 

•  Non ho visto nessuno – I haven’t seen anyone/anybody 

Niente means nothing or anything and it refers to things.

•  Qui non c’e’ niente da vedere –   there is nothing to see here
•  Non ho trovato niente di quello che mi serviva- I didn’t find anything of the things that I needed

Very often we Italians like to use the word NULLA

nulla and niente are synonyms.  

•  Qui non c’e’ nulla da vedere –   there is nothing to see here
•  Non ho trovato nulla di quello che mi serviva - I didn’t find anything of the things that I needed

Just like nessun you can use the formula NON + verb + niente. If nulla or niente are at the beginning of the sentence you don’t need the NON particle.

• Nulla di interessante! - Nothing interesting
• Non ho nulla di interessante da aggiungere - I have nothing interesting to add!

And with this last sentence I will leave you to study Nessuno and niente!

Hope you like the video!