Quando sei arrivato, avevo già completato l’elenco.

When you arrived, I had already finished the list.

Breakdown of Quando sei arrivato, avevo già completato l’elenco.

• io: I
• tu: you
• quando: when
• arrivare: to arrive
• già: already
• l’elenco: the list
• completare: to finish

Questions & Answers about Quando sei arrivato, avevo già completato l’elenco.

Why is the verb in Quando sei arrivato formed with sei and not hai?

In Italian, verbs of movement (like arrivare) take essere as their auxiliary in compound tenses. The 2nd-person singular present of essere is sei, so you say sei arrivato (you arrived).

What’s the difference between the passato prossimo in the first clause and the trapassato prossimo in the second?

Italian uses passato prossimo for the more recent action (Quando sei arrivato – when you arrived) and trapassato prossimo for the action that occurred before it (avevo già completato – I had already completed). The trapassato prossimo is formed with the imperfect of the auxiliary (avevo) + past participle.

Why is già placed before completato and not somewhere else?

Già means already. When you want to emphasize that something was completed before another past action, you normally put già just before the past participle: già completato = already completed. You can also say completato già, but it sounds less natural.

Why does the sentence use l’elenco instead of il elenco?

In Italian, when the masculine singular article il comes before a noun starting with a vowel (here elenco), it contracts to l’ plus the noun: l’elenco.

Why is there no subject pronoun before sei arrivato or avevo completato?

Italian typically drops subject pronouns because the verb ending already indicates person and number. Sei tells you the subject is tu, and avevo tells you it’s io.

Why doesn’t completato agree in gender or number with l’elenco?

When you use avere as the auxiliary, the past participle generally stays in its invariable form. Agreement (e.g. completata, completati) only happens if a direct object pronoun precedes the verb.

Could I use la lista instead of l’elenco?

Yes. Elenco and lista are synonyms. Choosing l’elenco is slightly more formal or technical, while la lista is more everyday speech. Both work here.

Why is there a comma after Quando sei arrivato?

Because Quando sei arrivato is a subordinate temporal clause. In writing, Italian often uses a comma to separate that kind of introductory clause from the main clause.