Using ne to replace dimenticare di [infinitive]

Question

One possible usage of the particle ne is to replace prepositional phrases introduced by 'di'.

In the following example:

Hai dimenticato di fare i compiti? Sì, ne ho dimenticato.

Is there any problem replacing the prepositional phrase 'di fare i compiti' with 'ne'? How does it sound to native speakers?

Riccardo De Contardi · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-12 07:52:59Z

4

In this sentence the usage of "ne" is not fully correct and sounds a bit ugly. The correct form would be:

Hai dimenticato di fare i compiti? Sì, me ne sono dimenticato

or

Hai dimenticato di fare i compiti? Sì, l'ho dimenticato

or

Hai dimenticato di fare i compiti? Sì, ho dimenticato

I found some examples about the usage of "ne" on: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ne#Italian

answered Apr 12, 2017 at 7:52

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1

I appreciate your answer. I would still like to understand why ne can't be used to replace the 'di + [inf]' in this example, however. That is one of the major uses of ne, and I'm not sure why it doesn't work in the example I gave.
– gbutters
Apr 12, 2017 at 9:47
In Italian you can use the verb "dimenticare" (to forget) in a passive form, like on my first example, in which: me ne sono dimenticato = mi sono dimenticato di essi > I forgot about them. instead: l'ho dimenticato > I forgot it
– Riccardo De Contardi
Apr 12, 2017 at 10:18

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