né Michele né Elena.

Non vengono a cena né Michele né Elena.

Neither Michele nor Elena is coming to dinner.

Above is how this is given. But why isn't it

né Michele né Elena vengono a cena?

as in the translation the verb comes after né 

Ciao Stephen,

Both sentence structures you mentioned are grammatically correct, but they convey slightly different emphasis.

The sentence "Non vengono a cena né Michele né Elena" follows the pattern where the negation "non" precedes the verb "vengono" and the conjunction "né" is used before each item in the list. This structure is commonly used in Italian to express negation and exclusion. In this case, it means "Neither Michele nor Elena is coming to dinner."

On the other hand, the sentence "Né Michele né Elena vengono a cena" places the conjunction "né" before each item in the list, and the verb "vengono" follows afterward. This structure also conveys the same meaning, but it places a bit more emphasis on the individuals (Michele and Elena) before stating the action (coming to dinner).

In terms of translation, both structures can be rendered as "Neither Michele nor Elena is coming to dinner," so the difference lies in the emphasis and style of the sentence.

It's worth noting that word order in Italian is relatively flexible, and you can rearrange sentence elements to emphasize different parts or for stylistic variation, as long as the overall meaning remains clear.

I hope this clarifies the different sentence structures for you. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask!