Per la serata, lei ha scelto una collana elegante e ha sorriso allo specchio.

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Breakdown of Per la serata, lei ha scelto una collana elegante e ha sorriso allo specchio.

• per: for
• a: at
• elegante: elegant
• lei: she
• la serata: the evening
• sorridere: to smile
• scegliere: to choose
• la collana: the necklace
• lo specchio: the mirror

Questions & Answers about Per la serata, lei ha scelto una collana elegante e ha sorriso allo specchio.

What does Per la serata mean, and what role does it play in the sentence?

Per la serata translates to “for the evening.” It acts as a prepositional phrase establishing the context or occasion for the actions that follow; it tells us that the events (choosing the necklace and smiling) are related to that specific evening.

What tense are the verbs ha scelto and ha sorriso in, and how is this tense formed in Italian?

Both verbs are in the passato prossimo (compound past) tense. This tense is formed by using the auxiliary verb (in this case ha, the third person singular of avere) followed by the past participle of the main verb. Here, scelto is the past participle of scegliere (to choose) and sorriso is the past participle of sorridere (to smile).

How is the contraction allo in allo specchio formed, and why is it used?

Allo is a contraction of the preposition a (“at”) and the definite article lo. In Italian, lo is used instead of il when a masculine singular noun begins with certain consonant clusters (like sp- in specchio). Therefore, allo specchio correctly means “at the mirror.”

Why does the adjective elegante come after the noun collana in this sentence?

In Italian, adjectives can be placed either before or after the noun, often depending on stylistic choice or the quality being described. In this sentence, placing elegante after collana is a common construction when describing a characteristic of an item. It subtly emphasizes the quality of the necklace without altering its basic meaning.

Why is the subject lei mentioned only once even though there are two verbs describing different actions?

In Italian, as in English, if the same subject performs multiple actions, it is typically mentioned only once to avoid redundancy. In this sentence, lei (she) is understood to be the subject for both ha scelto and ha sorriso, making it unnecessary to repeat it for the second verb.