Italian expression of the day: 'Non ne posso più'
We've had it with this phrase.
If you're exasperated, at your wit's end, fed up to the back teeth with some aspect of life in Italy, there's one phrase you'll want to have in your repertoire: Non ne posso più (hear it pronounced here.)
It means I'm sick of this, I'm done.
''Ne' is a handy little preposition that's usually used to mean 'of it' or 'of them', 'non posso' is 'I can't' and 'più' is 'more', so the phrase literally means something like 'I can't do any more of this/it/them'.
It's slightly different to non ce la faccio, which is more like 'I can't manage'/'I can't take it any more', but the two are often interchangeable. You can think of non ne posso più as being a little more emphatic and/or belligerent.
Mi mancheranno molto i miei amici ma devo andare via da questo paese, non ne posso più.
I'll miss my friends a lot but I need to get out of this country, I'm done.
Sarà un sollievo finire questo lavoro, non ne posso più.
It will be a relief to finish this job, I'm sick of it.
When talking about being fed up with something in particular, we use the preposition di at the end of the phrase. It can be followed by a verb or a noun; if followed by the latter, the di should change its form to agree with the noun's gender and quantity.
Sono stanca, non ne posso più di lavorare in quest'azienda.
I'm tired, I've had it with working at this company.
E già non ne posso più dell'università.
I'm already sick of university.
The phrase can be tweaked to any tense and for any sentence subject; all you have to do is change the conjugation of potere.
Me ne sono andata perché non potevo più dei suoi capricci.
I left because I couldn't take her tantrums anymore.
Devi dirgli che non ne puoi più.
You have to tell him you've had enough.
Lei non ne può più di starti a sentire.
She's sick of listening to you.
Now you know what to say to your Italian teacher the next time conjugating subjunctives gets too much.
Is there an Italian word of expression you'd like us to feature? If so, please email us with your suggestion.
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If you're exasperated, at your wit's end, fed up to the back teeth with some aspect of life in Italy, there's one phrase you'll want to have in your repertoire: Non ne posso più (hear it pronounced here.)
It means I'm sick of this, I'm done.
''Ne' is a handy little preposition that's usually used to mean 'of it' or 'of them', 'non posso' is 'I can't' and 'più' is 'more', so the phrase literally means something like 'I can't do any more of this/it/them'.
It's slightly different to non ce la faccio, which is more like 'I can't manage'/'I can't take it any more', but the two are often interchangeable. You can think of non ne posso più as being a little more emphatic and/or belligerent.
Mi mancheranno molto i miei amici ma devo andare via da questo paese, non ne posso più.
I'll miss my friends a lot but I need to get out of this country, I'm done.
Sarà un sollievo finire questo lavoro, non ne posso più.
It will be a relief to finish this job, I'm sick of it.
When talking about being fed up with something in particular, we use the preposition di at the end of the phrase. It can be followed by a verb or a noun; if followed by the latter, the di should change its form to agree with the noun's gender and quantity.
Sono stanca, non ne posso più di lavorare in quest'azienda.
I'm tired, I've had it with working at this company.
E già non ne posso più dell'università.
I'm already sick of university.
The phrase can be tweaked to any tense and for any sentence subject; all you have to do is change the conjugation of potere.
Me ne sono andata perché non potevo più dei suoi capricci.
I left because I couldn't take her tantrums anymore.
Devi dirgli che non ne puoi più.
You have to tell him you've had enough.
Lei non ne può più di starti a sentire.
She's sick of listening to you.
Now you know what to say to your Italian teacher the next time conjugating subjunctives gets too much.
Is there an Italian word of expression you'd like us to feature? If so, please email us with your suggestion.
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