I'd like to know if "It is" + that-clause is correct:
It's that I don't want to talk to you anymore.
If it is not, would mind saying how I could rephrase that sentence?
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2I believe that "It's not that I don't want to talk to you anymore" is an idiomatic sentence. So, removing not would not make it a wrong sentence.– CardinalCommented May 3, 2020 at 18:46
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2That sentence would be a possible answer to "Why don't you speak to me?". In that case, the first word "It's" would mean "the reason is".– Jack O'FlahertyCommented May 3, 2020 at 19:10
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Jack is right and it's that means: the reason that. And it's VERY used.– LambieCommented May 14, 2021 at 19:38
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4 Answers
"It's that I don't want to talk to you any more" is unidiomatic, unless perhaps the other person asked you a question ("what's the reason you haven't spoken to me lately?") - even then, it's not necessarily a particularly likely utterance.
If you precede it with another sentence, with which you're expressing a contrast, it makes more sense. "It's not that I don't like you. It's (just) that I don't want to talk to you any more." We would tend to include the word "just" or "simply". A bit more formally: "It's not that I don't like you. Rather, it's that I don't want to talk to you any more." Here the "just" would be superfluous.
Without that context, the more idiomatic phrasing would be "The thing is, I don't want to talk to you any more" or "The fact is, I don't want to talk to you any more" or just "I don't want to talk to you any more".
As "I don't want to talk to you any more" is fairly blunt, you can soften it by replacing "want" with "wish", or by preceding the sentence with "I'm afraid". But these alterations are not essential and if you may prefer to leave the sentence as it is so that your addressee gets the message plainly and doesn't sense any hesitation on your part.
In my American English dialect that would not be acceptable, except as a joke between people who also speak French.
"It's not that I don't want to..." is perfectly acceptable.
Alternate possibilities:
"I don't want to..." use this if you are starting the conversation. "I don't want to go out for lunch, I am on a budget."
"Because I don't want to..." use this if you are answering a question. "Why don't you want to go out?" "Because I don't want to spend a lot of money on restaurants. I'm on a budget."
There are a couple of other possibilities, but they depend on circumstances.
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It's that x is typical in American speech to explain a situation. Q: Why don't you want to play with your friends, little Johnny? Ans: It's that they are mean to me. Perfectly acceptable in speech and much used, I might add.– LambieCommented May 14, 2021 at 19:38
“It is that X” on its own is grammatically valid but not idiomatic. We would just say X.
Where you will see this is in the structure “It is not that X; it is that Y.” The first half allows using the parallel second half as a contrast.
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Of course it's idiomatic. It's used to explain things in term of what another person says.– LambieCommented May 14, 2021 at 21:06
"It's that I don't want to talk to you anymore".
Is 100% idiomatic in response to these kinds of comments by another person or in the types of situation I made up below.
Question: Why don't you want to go to a bar with me again? Answer: It's that I don't want to talk to you anymore.
Question: This seminar is so boring. Let's go get coffee. Answer: No, I won't go with you. Question: Why not? Answer: It's that I don't want to spend time with you anymore.
Comment: Whew, that was quite a beating you took from your boss today. Response: Yeah, he was really heavy, wasn't he? Comment: He sure was. I think it's just that he doesn't seem to appreciate you.
Conclusion: It's just that x or It's that x is a spoken English form used in explanatory situations in relation to what someone else has said.
