Common Italian expression
| Non ne posso più. | I can’t take it anymore. |
Non ne posso più can literally be translated as “I can’t anymore”, meaning that you’ve reached the point of exhaustion and are feeling overwhelmed. You are so fed up that you want to stop everything you’re doing and take a looong vacation.
This saying is used to express fatigue and extreme exhaustion, both physical and psychological. It can be translated into English as I can’t take it anymore.
Of course there are other forms, like the plural form non ne possiamo più, we can’t take it anymore. You have to use a form of the verb potere, can, which is a modal verb.
Examples
| Sto lavorando da ieri sera. Non ne posso più! | I’ve been working since last night. I can’t take it anymore! |
| Non ne posso proprio più dei cani del mio vicino, continuano ad abbaiare! | I just can’t take any more of my neighbor’s dogs, they keep barking! |
You can also find non ce la faccio più, especially when you are so physically tired that your muscles refuse to move or work anymore. It comes from the expression farcela, which means “to be successful in doing something”.
Non ne posso più, on the other hand, is more often used to express exhaustion in a nerve-wracking way.
| Non ce la faccio più. | I can’t go on anymore. |
Related lessons
- farcela (to do it, can)
- più (more, anymore)
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