non fare che

[swinginscot]

Ciao a tutti,
I've been seeing this construction (non fare che) more and more in my reading. I think I know what it means but I just wanted to check:

Does it mean someone kept doing something or couldn't stop themselves from doing something?

Eg,
Charlie non faceva che voltarsi e spalancare gli occhi alla vista dei due grandi sacchi rigonfi
Charlie kept turning around and opening his eyes wide at the sight of two big bulging sacks.

Are there other usages for this construction?

Grazie mille

 

[Necsus]

Ciao a tutti,
I've been seeing this construction (non fare che) more and more in my reading. I think I know what it means but I just wanted to check:

Does it mean someone kept doing something or couldn't stop themselves from doing something?
the latter would be 'non poteva evitare/fare a meno di...'

Eg,
Charlie non faceva che voltarsi e spalancare gli occhi alla vista dei due grandi sacchi rigonfi
Charlie kept turning around and opening his eyes wide at the sight of two big bulging sacks.

Are there other usages for this construction?

Grazie mille

 

[shamblesuk]

I think a good way of explaining this is that someone couldn't resist/help themself from doing something, as if they would try to be were unable to.

To be able to do nothing but.....would be a good way of explaining it.

Lee

 

[LIM]

Here's a similar thread.
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=596322&highlight=non+fa+altro

But=che