Learn Hardcore Italian: La mattinata è passata in fretta grazie al lavoro interessante. - The morning period passed quickly thanks to the interesting work.

Mattina generally refers to the concept of “morning” (e.g. “Mi piace la mattina”). Mattinata, on the other hand, emphasizes the duration or the events of the morning (e.g. “La mattinata è stata intensa”). Think of mattinata as “the whole morning” seen as a block of time.

Why is there a definite article la before mattinata?

In Italian, periods of the day often take the definite article. You say la mattina, il pomeriggio, la sera, etc. Here it’s la mattinata for “the morning (as it passed).”

Why is the auxiliary verb essere used in è passata instead of avere?

When passare means “to go by” or “to elapse” (an intransitive sense of time passing), it uses essere as its auxiliary in the passato prossimo. With essere the past participle must agree in gender and number with the subject.

Why does the past participle passata agree with mattinata?

Because with essere as auxiliary the past participle acts like an adjective and agrees with the subject. Mattinata is feminine singular, so we use passata (fem. sing.) rather than passato.

What does in fretta mean, and why not use velocemente or presto?

In fretta means “quickly” or “in a hurry.”

Velocemente also means “quickly,” but it’s more formal and focuses on speed rather than the idea of being rushed.
Presto can mean “soon” or “early,” and in contexts of doing something it can mean “quickly,” but it doesn’t carry the nuance of “hurry” the way in fretta does.

Why is it grazie al lavoro interessante and not just grazie a lavoro interessante?

Grazie a always takes a personal or non-personal complement introduced by a. When that noun is masculine singular and requires a definite article, a + il contracts into al. Hence grazie al lavoro.

Why is the adjective interessante placed after lavoro instead of before it?

In Italian most descriptive adjectives come after the noun for a neutral statement (lavoro interessante). Placing interessante before lavoro would add emphasis or a stylistic effect (e.g. poetic or emotional).

Can I say ha passato la mattinata in fretta instead of è passata la mattinata in fretta?

Yes, but the meaning changes.

Ha passato la mattinata (with avere) means “(someone) spent the morning,” focusing on a person’s action.
È passata la mattinata (with essere) means “the morning passed,” focusing on time elapsing. Here we want the latter.