The Passive of Loss and Destruction
In Italian, you usually form the passive voice using the auxiliary verbs essere (to be) or venire (to come). However, when talking about something being lost, destroyed, or scattered, Italian frequently uses andare (to go) as the auxiliary verb.
This special passive structure is formed by conjugating andare and adding the past participle of a verb of loss or destruction. It highlights the unfortunate outcome of an event, translating to "got destroyed," "was lost," or "went missing."
The most common past participles used in this structure are:
- perduto or perso (lost)
- distrutto (destroyed)
- disperso (missing / scattered)
- smarrito (misplaced / lost)
In compound tenses like the passato prossimo, remember that andare takes essere as its own auxiliary. Both the participle of andare (like andato) and the main past participle must agree in gender and number with the subject.
| When the merchant ship sank in the shipwreck, everything was lost. | Quando il mercantile è affondato nel naufragio, tutto è andato perduto. |
| The cargo of spices got destroyed. | Il carico di spezie è andato distrutto. |
If the subject is feminine, both participles change to end in -a.
| A lot of porcelain went missing on the seabed. | Molta porcellana è andata dispersa sul fondale. |
Plural Subjects
When the subject is plural, ensure the auxiliary verb is plural (e.g., sono in the passato prossimo) and both participles end in the correct plural vowel (-i for masculine, -e for feminine).
| The porcelains were destroyed with the merchant ship. | Le porcellane sono andate distrutte con il mercantile. |
| Unfortunately, all the spices were lost in the seabed. | Purtroppo, tutte le spezie sono andate perdute nel fondale. |
Using Other Tenses and Moods
Because andare acts as the auxiliary verb here, you can conjugate it into any tense or mood to fit the context of the sentence.
For example, use the subjunctive mood (vada, sia andato) to express purpose, doubt, or subjective feelings about a loss.
| We must recover the wreck so that it does not get destroyed. | Dobbiamo recuperare il relitto affinché non vada distrutto. |
| Could the merchant ship have gotten lost after the shipwreck? | Che il mercantile sia andato smarrito dopo il naufragio? |
You can also use the future perfect (sarà andato) to make an assumption or express probability about what must have happened to a wreck or its cargo.
| They don't find the cargo, it must have gotten destroyed when the ship sank. | Non trovano il carico, sarà andato distrutto quando la nave è affondata. |