Ho mangiato soltanto la metà del pane.

I only ate half the bread.

Breakdown of Ho mangiato soltanto la metà del pane.

• io: I
• mangiare: to eat
• del: of the
• il pane: the bread
• soltanto: only
• la metà: the half

Questions & Answers about Ho mangiato soltanto la metà del pane.

What tense is ho mangiato and when do we use it?

Ho mangiato is the passato prossimo, formed with the auxiliary avere + the past participle mangiato. We use it for completed actions in the (relatively) recent past or ones with present relevance. It can translate as either “I ate” or “I have eaten,” depending on context.

Can I use solo instead of soltanto? Are they the same?

Yes—both mean “only.” Solo is more colloquial and common in speech, while soltanto can sound slightly more formal or emphatic. You can freely say Ho mangiato solo la metà del pane without changing the basic meaning.

Does the placement of soltanto matter? What if I move it before mangiato?

Placement affects what you’re limiting:

• In Ho mangiato soltanto la metà del pane, soltanto modifies la metà del pane, meaning “I ate only half of the bread.”
• In Ho soltanto mangiato la metà del pane, you’re saying “the only thing I did was eat half of the bread” (as opposed to buying it, sharing it, etc.).
  So word order shifts the focus or nuance.

Why is it la metà? Can metà stand alone without an article?

Metà is a feminine singular noun and normally takes the definite article la when you mean “the half.” When specifying “half of something,” you say la metà di + noun (e.g. la metà di quella torta). In everyday speech some might drop la and say metà del pane, but including la is the standard, clearer form.

What is del in del pane?

Del is the contraction of di + il. Here it means “of the”:
la metà – di + il – pane → la metà del pane (“half of the bread”).
It’s not the partitive meaning “some bread” but a literal “of the bread.”

Could I say mezzo instead of metà? For example, Ho mangiato mezzo pane?

You can, but there’s a difference:

• Metà is a noun (takes an article, often followed by di + noun).
• Mezzo is an adjective/quantifier placed before the noun and must agree in gender/number (e.g. mezzo litro, mezza pizza).
  So Ho mangiato mezzo pane is grammatically okay (because pane is masculine), but many speakers prefer Ho mangiato metà del pane to stress “half of that specific loaf.”

Why doesn’t the past participle mangiato agree with la metà, which is feminine?

With transitive verbs using avere, the past participle does not agree with a following direct object. Agreement only occurs if a direct-object pronoun precedes the verb. For example:
“La metà l’ho mangiata” (here mangiata agrees with la metà), but in Ho mangiato la metà the participle stays invariable (mangiato).