Modals and Reflexives: Auxiliary Retention
In the previous lesson, you learned that placing a reflexive pronoun before a modal verb forces you to use essere as the auxiliary.
Alternatively, you can attach the reflexive pronoun to the end of the infinitive verb (dropping its final -e). When you do this, the modal verb keeps its default auxiliary: avere.
Because the auxiliary is avere, the past participle of the modal (dovuto, potuto, voluto) does not change to agree with the subject. It always ends in -o.
| Because of the obligation, he had to adapt himself. | A causa dell'obbligo, ha dovuto adeguarsi. |
Notice that the auxiliary is avere (ha) and the participle is dovuto, because the pronoun si is safely tucked at the end of adeguarsi.
Here is another example in the first person:
| I am not tolerant at all, I didn't have to adapt myself! | Non sono mica tollerante, non ho dovuto adeguarmi! |
This rule applies to all modal verbs, such as volere (to want) and potere (to be able to):
| The strict director wanted to take revenge. | Il direttore rigoroso ha voluto vendicarsi. |
Whether the subject is singular or plural, masculine or feminine, the modal's past participle never changes when using avere:
| They were able to take revenge without any remorse. | Hanno potuto vendicarsi senza alcun rimorso. |
Finally, this rule holds true across all compound tenses, including the conditional past:
| I would have liked to rebel against that norm. | Avrei voluto ribellarmi a quella norma. |