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Breakdown of Abbiamo deciso di dedicare un capitolo del diario al nostro viaggio in macchina.
di
of
in
in
noi
we
il nostro
our
a
to
il viaggio
the trip
decidere
to decide
di
to
il diario
the diary
la macchina
the car
dedicare
to devote
il capitolo
the chapter
Questions & Answers about Abbiamo deciso di dedicare un capitolo del diario al nostro viaggio in macchina.
Why isn’t there a subject pronoun before abbiamo deciso?
Italian often omits the subject pronoun because the verb ending already shows who’s performing the action. Here -iamo tells you it’s noi (we), so you don’t need to say noi abbiamo deciso unless you want extra emphasis.
What tense is abbiamo deciso, and when do you use it?
Abbiamo deciso is the passato prossimo of decidere. You use passato prossimo to talk about completed actions in the recent past, especially those with relevance to the present.
Why is there a di before dedicare?
Some Italian verbs that express intention, decision or desire require di before an infinitive. Decidere is one of them: decidere di + [infinitive] means “to decide to …”.
What does dedicare un capitolo al nostro viaggio literally mean, and why al?
Literally it’s “to dedicate a chapter to our trip.” In Italian dedicare takes the preposition a to indicate the recipient of the dedication. Al is just a + il, since viaggio is masculine singular.
Why is di + il contracted to del in del diario?
In Italian prepositions di and a contract with the definite articles il, lo, la, etc.
- di + il → del
- a + il → al
Why do we say il nostro viaggio with an article, while in English you just say “our trip”?
In Italian you normally use the definite article before possessive adjectives, except with singular family members (e.g., mia madre but la mia casa). So it’s il nostro viaggio.
What does in macchina mean, and why in instead of con?
In macchina means “by car.” Italians use in with most means of transportation: in macchina, in treno, in aereo. You could use con la macchina, but in macchina is more idiomatic.
Could you say in auto instead of in macchina?
Yes. Auto is short for automobile, so in auto (“by car”) is perfectly normal and even more colloquial.
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