Hi all,
I am discussing with a friend what is more correct in musical italian:
Da niente / a niente or Dal niente / al niente
If both are possible, what are the rules for when to use one or the other?
And would it be different with dal/al quasi niente?
Italian here (hello!):
Dal / al niente are correct. The others are wrong.
āDal/alā are āarticulated prepositionsā in Italian. āDalā is āDa+ilā and āAlā is āA+ilā. I can look up the grammar rule for you if you would like me to.
If you want to add āquasiā, itās not the end of the world but please consider saying āquasi dal/al nienteā. It sounds better and it is correct grammar.
Grazie mille!
I like it, and to me it seems wonderfully poetical to say āfrom the nothingā.
But would not āQuasi dal nienteā and āDal quasi nienteā have slightly different meanings?
They may but, at least for a native Italian, the āincorrectā flag would kick in and refuse to accept that as an option.
Would you say āfrom the almost nothingā? Perhaps better āfrom close to nothingnessā? In this case I would say ādal confine del silenzio/nullaā (from the border of silence/nothingness). Very poetic, right? 
Very poetic 