What is non essere che in Italian?
In today’s post, we’re going to focus on the expression: non essere che.
Of course, the verb essere has to be conjugated depending on who you’re referring to.
Let’s have a look at this example and try to understand what it means:Non eravate che dei bambini innocenti!
The sentence we just read doesn’t sound very natural, right? However, it does make sense. It means: You were just innocent kids!
Let’s find out what this sentence means and how to use non è che.
What does non essere che mean?
The sentence you read previously, in English means something like you were just innocent kids! Or you were nothing else but kids!
It’s the same in Italian. In fact, in Italian we could also say:Non eravate altro che dei bambini innocenti!
In this case, altro means nothing else.
Non essere che is the shortened version of non essere altro che, to be nothing else but.
If it makes you confused, just try to erase the words non and che, and it’ll make more sense: Eravate dei bambini innocenti!
So, non è che means it’s not but in Italian.
How to use non essere che?
The structure is pretty simple: non + conjugated form of essere + che + indefinite article + noun.
As we already said, we have to conjugate the verb essere for the sentence to make sense.
Here’s an example:
Non sono che degli scemi!
They’re just silly!
Like in the example above, we tend to use this expression followed by a pejorative word, which is a word with a negative connotation, a low opinion indicating a lack of respect toward someone or something.
Non essere che: examples
Let’s take a look at some more examples:
Per loro non eravamo che dei pazzi.
For them, we were just crazy.
Non siamo che dei poveri disgraziati.
We’re just unfortunate.
Per noi, le stelle non sono che luci.
For us, stars are just lights.
Non eravamo che bambini.
We were just kids.
Non eri che una semplice ragazza.
You were just a plain girl.
Still translating in your head? Wanna speak Italian for real? Check out Stefano's courses to think directly in Italian and become fluent fast!
