How to Say ‘They didn't score / they were about to score’ in Italian
Non segnavano
nohn sen-YAH-vah-noh
[nohn sen-YAH-vah-noh]
💬 Usage Tip: Imperfect tense of "segnare". In "Per poco non segnavano," the negative is idiomatic: it means they almost scored.
🇮🇹 In Italy: This kind of phrase is common in emotional sports talk, where grammar follows the heartbeat a bit.
Phrase Breakdown
Non
[nohn]
not
Negation word; here it appears in a phrase meaning something almost did happen: 'they almost scored'.
Non segnavano per un soffio.
They didn't score by a hair / They almost scored.
segnavano
[sen-YAH-vah-noh]
they were scoring / they scored
Imperfect of segnare; in this context it refers to the other team nearly putting the ball in the net.
Non segnavano, ma ci sono andati vicinissimi.
They didn't score, but they came extremely close.
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