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
Ce n'è solo una rimasta - 5.7 Continuing action

ChrisM108
May 21, 2020

caterina-rocket-italian-tutor
May 29, 2020
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.
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.
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
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.

ChrisM108
May 29, 2020
È molto chiaro. Grazie mille Caterina.
Chris
Chris