"Non vergognarti a chiedere" vs "Non vergognarti di chiedere"

Question

If there's something you'd like to know, don't hesitate to ask me.

To express the idea of "don't hesitate to ask me", I wonder which preposition to use here, even though "di" seems more common with the verb "vergognare".

..., non vergognarti a chiedere.

..., non vergognarti di chiedere.

At Treccani dictionary there is this example: mi vergognavo di chiederglielo. — Charo, Jan 08 '18 at 20:32
Actually to hesitate means esitare, not vergognarsi... — alexjo, Jan 08 '18 at 21:53
Vergognarsi can be contructed with di or with a: in your case both are correct (see Treccani at point 2.) — alexjo, Jan 08 '18 at 22:14
Rather then vergognarsi (which could stand, though) a better translation could be esitare or aver timore. The former requires a, the latter takes both a or di. — egreg, Jan 08 '18 at 22:34

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited Jan 09 '18 at 10:55

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The more common preposition is di according to Google Ngram data and (if it counts) to my ear.

I have to agree that using the verb vergognarsi in this case does sound odd, and I would prefer esitare, or maybe (more informal) non farti problemi a chiedere.

edited Jan 09 '18 at 10:55

Charo

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answered Jan 09 '18 at 10:22

Enucatl

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Actually it depends on the meaning! See treccani. Google Ngram doesn't take into account the context... – alexjo Jan 09 '18 at 10:59

"Non vergognarti a chiedere" vs "Non vergognarti di chiedere"

1 Answers1