Learn Hardcore Italian: Un piccolo graffio sull’occhio è stato curato con attenzione. - A small scratch on the eye was treated carefully.

Because the focus is on the scratch (il graffio) and what happened to it, not on who treated it. In Italian, the passive voice is formed with essere + past participle. Here è stato (3rd person singular of essere in the present perfect) + curato (past participle of curare) gives è stato curato. If you wanted an active sentence (“Someone treated the scratch”), you would say Qualcuno ha curato il graffio.

How does the contraction sull’occhio work?

sull’occhio is the combination of the preposition su (on) + the definite article l’ (the) before a vowel.
– su + l’ = sull’
– Then you add occhio: sull’occhio
This is why you see the apostrophe: it marks the elision of the vowel in l’.

Why is the adjective piccolo placed before graffio, instead of after it?

In Italian, most adjectives follow the noun, but a handful of common, short adjectives (like piccolo, grande, buono) can go before for stylistic or emphatic reasons. Saying un piccolo graffio sounds more natural and idiomatic than un graffio piccolo.

How does the past participle curato agree in gender and number in the passive?

When you use the passive with essere, the past participle must agree with the subject. Here the subject is un piccolo graffio (masculine singular), so the participle stays curato (masculine singular).
If the subject were feminine singular (e.g. una ferita), you would say è stata curata.
If it were plural (e.g. i graffi), you’d say sono stati curati.

What’s the nuance between saying con attenzione and the adverb attentamente?

Both mean “carefully.”
– con attenzione literally means “with attention” and is very common in everyday Italian.
– attentamente is the more direct adverbial form “attentively/carefully” and can sound slightly more formal.
You can use either: È stato curato con attenzione or È stato curato attentamente.

Why is there no article before attenzione in con attenzione?

After certain prepositions (like con, a, di) + abstract nouns, Italian often omits the article. It becomes an adverbial phrase. Compare: con fretta (in a hurry), a memoria (by heart), di proposito (on purpose).

Can I say un piccolo graffio all’occhio instead of sull’occhio?

Yes, all’occhio (a + l’) is grammatically correct and means “to/at the eye,” but it’s less precise for describing a scratch located on the eye’s surface. sull’occhio (su + l’) clearly conveys “on the eye,” which is why it’s preferred here.

Why is occhio singular? What if both eyes were scratched?

Here the sentence describes a scratch on one eye, so occhio is singular. If you wanted to talk about scratches on both eyes, you’d use the plural: Due piccoli graffi sugli occhi sono stati curati con attenzione.

Why is the indefinite article un used and not uno?

Italian has two masculine singular indefinite articles: un and uno.
– un is used before consonants and most vowels (e.g. un graffio, un amico).
– uno appears only before s+consonant (uno studente), z (uno zaino), gn, ps, x, y.
Since graffio starts with a regular consonant g, you use un.