Ce n'è solo una rimasta - 5.7 Continuing action

As Ce is ‘there is’, I don’t understand why “n'è” is necessary. Under what grammar rules should I include n'è? Grazie. Chris

Hi Chris, 

Thanks for your question! This requires a slightly more elaborate analysis.

You are definitely familiar with the phrase "c'è" (ci è = there is) and "ci sono" (there are).  When the term "ci" precedes the term "ne", it changes into "ce". 
 
Let's take our sentence "Ce n'è solo una rimasta." ("There's only one left.") and, specifically, the bit "Ce n'è". 

Ce n'è actually stands for ce ne è.

• ce =  there
• ne = of them
• è = is

If we were to translate it literally, the sentence would read "There of them is only one left".

So, what's the difference between "c'è" and "ce n'è", you may ask?
In the second case, "ne" replaces the object. Here are some examples:

Quanti telefoni ci sono?  =  How many telephones are there?
Ce n'è uno.  =  Yes, there is one (of them).
You could have also answered: "C'è un telefono" = There is one telephone.