Non capire un'acca means to not understand a thing. Acca is how the letter H is spelled in Italian. There are two versions of this expression in written Italian:
non capire un'acca
or
non capire un'H
The phrase non capire un'acca is a common expression in Italian colloquial speech. It makes its appearance in a vast array of situations, although always with a negative undertone.
The whole expression revolves around the letter H, which, despite being an essential component of the Italian alphabet, does not bear its own sound. Being silent, the letter H is therefore considered to be a letter of little value. Hence, the idiomatic expression non capire un'acca. Poor, unappreciated letter H!
All words borrowed from the English language, which begin with the letter H (hall, hamburger, hotel, happy hour, hard disk), drop their initial H in spoken Italian. So don't be too surprised in Italy when you’ll hear somebody say otel instead of hotel!
Non capisco un'acca di filosofia.
I don't understand a thing about philosophy.
Non hanno capito un'acca di quello che ho detto.
They didn't understand a thing of what I said.
In English, the idiom non capire un'acca can be translated as to not understand a thing. This very same concept can also be expressed with the phrase "to be (all) Greek to someone".
non capire un'acca
or
non capire un'H
The phrase non capire un'acca is a common expression in Italian colloquial speech. It makes its appearance in a vast array of situations, although always with a negative undertone.
The whole expression revolves around the letter H, which, despite being an essential component of the Italian alphabet, does not bear its own sound. Being silent, the letter H is therefore considered to be a letter of little value. Hence, the idiomatic expression non capire un'acca. Poor, unappreciated letter H!
All words borrowed from the English language, which begin with the letter H (hall, hamburger, hotel, happy hour, hard disk), drop their initial H in spoken Italian. So don't be too surprised in Italy when you’ll hear somebody say otel instead of hotel!
Non capisco un'acca di filosofia.
I don't understand a thing about philosophy.
Non hanno capito un'acca di quello che ho detto.
They didn't understand a thing of what I said.
In English, the idiom non capire un'acca can be translated as to not understand a thing. This very same concept can also be expressed with the phrase "to be (all) Greek to someone".