Learn Hardcore Italian: L’esame era stato spostato due volte prima di questa conferma ufficiale. - The exam had been postponed twice before this official confirmation.

It’s the trapassato prossimo (past perfect) in the passive voice. You form it with the imperfect of essere (era) + past participle (stato spostato). It shows that the exam had already been postponed twice before another past event (the official confirmation).

Why use the passive voice here instead of active?

The passive construction shifts the focus onto l’esame (the exam) rather than on who postponed it (e.g., the professor). It’s useful when the agent is unknown, unimportant, or already understood from context.

Why is the auxiliary essere used, and why does the participle agree as stato spostato?

Passives always take essere as their auxiliary. The past participle agrees in gender and number with the subject: l’esame is masculine singular, so stato spostato.

Could we say L’esame è stato spostato due volte instead of era stato? What’s the difference?

Yes. È stato spostato is the passato prossimo (present perfect) passive, placing the action in the recent past or connecting it to the present. Era stato spostato (trapassato prossimo) emphasizes that those postponements happened before another past reference point (the confirmation).

What is the position of due volte? Can it move?

Due volte (“twice”) most naturally follows the participle in this construction: era stato spostato due volte. You could occasionally place it earlier (due volte era stato spostato), but that sounds less fluid.

Could you rewrite the clause with prima di in another way?

Yes. You can use di + infinitive: prima di ricevere questa conferma ufficiale (before receiving this official confirmation). Or a subordinate with prima che + subjunctive: prima che fosse confermata ufficialmente.

Why is questa used before conferma ufficiale? Could it be omitted?

Questa specifies that you’re talking about a particular confirmation already known in context. Omitting it (prima di conferma ufficiale) would be ungrammatical—at minimum you’d need an article (prima della conferma ufficiale) to keep it definite.

What’s the nuance between spostare, rinviare, and rimandare?

All can mean “to postpone.” Spostare literally means “to move” (an appointment) to another time. Rinviare and rimandare emphasize “deferring” something. In many contexts they’re interchangeable, though register and collocation can vary by region.

How would you express the same idea in the active voice?

You might say: Il professore aveva spostato l’esame due volte prima di questa conferma ufficiale. Here il professore is the agent, and you use the trapassato prossimo active (aveva spostato).