What is the Italian Word for “Never”?
To say “never” in Italian, you say:
Mai (Pronounced: my)
Like “never” in English, you can use mai as a word on its own.
For example:
Andare in Italia e non mangiare la pizza? Mai! -Go to Italy and not eat pizza? Never!
How to Use Never in Italian with non…mai
Non mangio mai la carne. -I never eat meat.
In Italian, when you form a full sentence with “never”, you have to use a double negative and say non…mai .
Literally: not…never.
Although you might have heard you shouldn’t say double negatives in English, in Italian this is actually the correct way to say it.
Here are some more examples:
Non bevo mai il caffè la sera. -I never drink coffee in the evening.
Non vado mai in spiaggia d’inverno. -I never go to the beach in winter.
You can think of this non…mai structure as a kind of sandwich.
Non is your first layer of bread, then your verb is the filling in the middle and the mai is the bottom layer of bread.
How to Use Never in Italian in the Past Tense
You’ll probably want to know how to use “never” in the past tense in Italian at some point because it’s really useful to talk about your life experiences. You can use it to tell Italians things you’ve never done (they might be curious!) and that you’d maybe like to try soon.
The past tense we need to talk about things we’ve never done in Italian is the passato prossimo.
If you want to read how it works in more detail, you can read our blogpost passato prossimo in Italian: how to use this past tense .
How to Use Never in Italian in the Past Tense: “non ho mai…”
Most of the time, you’ll use avere (“to have”) to talk about what you’ve never done. You should put the words non and mai around avere.
For example:
Non ho mai visto l’Ultima Cena. -I have never seen “The Last Supper”
Non ho mai provato gli spaghetti alle vongole. -I have never tried spaghetti with clams.
Non ho mai fatto una degustazione di vini. -I have never done a wine tasting
How to Use Never in Italian in the Past Tense: “non sono mai…”
Some verbs use essere (“to be”) instead. In this case, non and mai go around essere .
For example:
Non sono mai stato* a Roma. - I have (literally “I am”) never been to Rome.
Non sono mai tornata* a Napoli. -I have (literally “I am”) never gone back to Naples.
And if you want to explain that you haven’t done something, but you’d like to, just add ma vorrei (“but I’d like to”) on the end.
For example: Non sono mai stato* a Roma, ma vorrei. -I’ve never been to Rome, but I’d like to.
*With verbs that use essere , the ending changes to match you: -o if you’re male, -a if you’re female. You can read more about this in our post on the passato prossimo .
Some Italian Expressions with Never
There are lots of common Italian expressions using mai (“never”).
You can use these in Italy to sound more natural.
| Mai dire mai | Never say never | My DEE-reh my |
| Mai più | Never again (lit. never more) | My pyOO |
| Meglio tardi che mai | Better late than never | MEL-yoh TAR-dee keh my |
| Non si* sa mai | You never know | Non see sah my |
| Ora o mai più | Now or never (lit. or never more) | OR-ah oh my pyOO |
For example:
Guidare in centro a Palermo? Mai più. - Driving in Palermo city center? Never again.
And:
-Piove oggi? -Will it rain today?
-In teoria no, ma porto una giacca. Non si sa mai. -In theory no, but I’ll bring a jacket. You never know.
* Si in Italian is a kind of impersonal “you”, when you want to talk about “you” in general and not just the person you’re talking to. You can read a bit more about this on our blogpost the three meanings of si in Italian .
Answers From the Podcast: Two Truths and A Lie
Spoiler alert! Make sure you’ve listened to the podcast on “how to say never in Italian” to see if you can guess Matteo’s two truths and a lie.
And the lie was…
Non faccio mai colazione a casa. -I never have breakfast at home.
It’s a bit of a trick question! Matteo enjoys going to our local café to get breakfast and chat with the owner. But he often takes his caffè and brioche (similar to a croissant) to go, so he technically has them at home.
As for the other two truths:
Non vado mai in spiaggia in estate -I never go to the beach in summer
Matteo does love going to the beach in Italy, but he avoids it in summer because it’s too hot and crowded.
Non brindo mai con l’acqua. -I never say cheers with water.
Matteo can be a bit superstitious and saying cheers with water in your glass is considered bad luck in Italy.
How to Say Never in Italian: Review
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The Italian word for “never” is:
Mai (Pronounced: My)
And just like in English, you can use mai on its own for emphasis.
For example:
Andare in Italia e non mangiare la pizza? Mai! – Go to Italy and not eat pizza? Never!
-
How to Use Never in Italian with non…mai
When you use “never” in a full sentence in Italian, you need a double negative:
Non … mai (Literally: not … never)
For example:
Non mangio mai carne . -I never eat meat.
A helpful way to remember this is to think of it like a sandwich:
Non → first slice of bread
Verb → the filling
Mai → bottom slice of bread
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How to Use Never in Italian in the Past Tense
If you want to talk about things you’ve never done, Italian uses the passato prossimo . You put non and mai around the verb: avere (to have), or essere (to be).
For example:
Non ho mai visto l’Ultima Cena. -I have never seen The Last Supper.
Non sono mai stato a Roma. - I’ve never been to Rome.
-
Common Italian Expressions with Mai
There are lots of everyday Italian expressions that use mai .
For example:
Mai dire mai -Never say never
Mai più -Never again
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti! Hi everyone and welcome to “Learn Italian with Joy of Languages”.
M: In this episode, you’ll learn the Italian word for never.
K: To show you how it works, we’re going to play a game of “two truths and a lie”. But before we get started, can we ask you a quick favore ? If you’re listening to this on your podcast app, could you click the subscribe or follow button? This way you’ll get notified when we release a new episode and you’ll help our podcast grow so we can keep making free lessons like this. Grazie!
M: In a moment, you’ll hear three things about me. Two of them are true, one is a lie, and you have to guess what the lie is.
K: And for each truth or lie, Matteo will use the word “never”, so you can listen out for how it’s pronounced and how you can use it in everyday sentences.
M: The first one is:
Non vado mai in spiaggia in estate - I never go to the beach in summer. Literally:
Non - not
Vado - go
Mai - never
In - in
Spiaggia - beach
In - in
Estate - summer
K: You heard the word for “never” in Italian
M: Mai (x2) .
K: It’s spelt m-a-i. Like in English, you can use it as a word on its own as well. For example if I asked Matteo, would you ever give up coffee, he’d probably say:
M: Mai! Never!
K: But here you heard how “never” is used as part of a sentence. And when you use “never” as part of a sentence in Italian, you usually have to add the word “not”, or non in front.
M: For example, I said non vado mai - I never go. Or literally “not I go never”.
K: This is technically a double negative, almost like we’re saying “I don’t never go”. It doesn’t sound right in English, but in Italian this is actually the right way to say it.
M: To use “never” the Italian way, you can think of it as creating a kind of sandwich around the verb. A nice Italian panino. And I’m not just saying that because I’m always thinking about food, it can be a helpful way to picture it.
K: So the non is the top layer of bread, the verb or doing word is the filling in the middle (in this case vado , I go), and then the mai is the bottom layer of bread. Basically, the non and mai have to wrap around the verb, so you have the structure non …verb… mai . So I never go, is:
M: Non vado mai (x2)
Now for the next sentence. And again, think about whether this could be a truth or a lie.
M: Non faccio mai colazione a casa - I never have breakfast at home. Literally:
Non - not
Faccio - I do
Mai - never
Colazione - breakfast
A - at
Casa - home
K: In Italian, we don’t talk about “having” breakfast. Instead of using the verb “to have”, or avere , you would say faccio, I do. So Italians literally say “I do” breakfast. I’ve always liked this, it makes me feel like they take it very seriously. I do is:
M: faccio (x2)
K: And like before, we put non, (“not”), and mai ( “ never”) around the verb. I never do:
M: Non faccio mai (x2) .
K: Time for the third and final sentence.
M: Non brindo mai con l’acqua - I never cheers with water. Literally:
Non - not
Brindo - I toast
Mai - never
Con - with
L’acqua - the water
K: Brindo is a handy word in Italian because it captures a couple of meanings. You can use it to talk about giving a toast, like at a wedding, or also when you clink glasses with someone and say “cheers”. It comes from the verb brindare, to toast, brindare . And from this we also have the word un brindisi, a toast, un brindisi.
M: But in Naples, where I’m from, it’s bad luck to cheers with water in your glass.
K: So you have to decide whether Matteo is actually superstitious to figure out whether what he said is true or not.
M: Now that you’ve heard three sentences with “never” in Italian, let’s see what you can remember.
K: How would I say “I never go”, for example “I never go to the beach in summer”.
[...]
M: Non vado mai (x2) . For example, non vado mai in spiaggia in estate.
K: How would you say “I never do?”. Matteo used it to say “I never have breakfast at home”, but in Italian, you use word “do” to talk about having breakfast.
[...]
M: Non faccio mai (x2) . For example, non faccio mai colazione a casa.
K: And lastly, how would you say “I never toast”? Matteo used it to say “I never toast, or say cheers, with water”.
[...]
M: Non brindo mai (x2). For example, non brindo mai con l’acqua.
K: You’ve heard two truths and a lie, so which one is the lie? M: To find out, you can click the link in the description to head over to our website, or go to italian.joyoflanguages.com/podcast and search for episode 220.
K: While you’re there, you’ll also see how to use “never” in Italian in the past tense, which is really useful because it explains how to say things like “I’ve never done”, or “I’ve never seen”. It’s a tense that goes well with never and helps you talk about your travel experiences.
M: And you’ll also see common expressions with “never” that you can use to impress Italians, like “never say never” , “better late than never” or “never again”.
M: See you next time.
K: Or as we say in Italian.
Alla prossima!
Time to check your understanding and remember everything you just learned! Below you’ll find a mini-quiz and some vocabulary cards to help it all go in.
Quiz: How to Say Never in Italian
How much did you learn? Find out in the quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: How to Say Never in Italian
Vocabulary
Non mangio mai la carne = I never eat meat
Non bevo mai il caffè la sera = I never drink coffee in the evening
Non ho mai fatto una degustazione di vini = I have never done a wine tasting
Non ho mai visto l’Ultima Cena = I have never seen “The Last Supper”
Non ho mai provato gli spaghetti alle vongole = I have never tried spaghetti with clams
Non sono mai stato/stata a Roma = I have (literally “I am”) never been to Rome
Non sono mai tornato/tornata a Napoli = I have (literally “I am”) never gone back to Naples
Non faccio mai colazione a casa = I never have (lit. “do”) breakfast at home
Non brindo mai con l’acqua = I never say cheers with water
Non vado mai in spiaggia in estate = I never go to the beach in summer
Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial
