Breakdown of Ieri abbiamo mangiato la pizza.
avere
to have
mangiare
to eat
la pizza
the pizza
ieri
yesterday
Questions & Answers about Ieri abbiamo mangiato la pizza.
Why are there two words (abbiamo mangiato) for the English word ate?
In Italian, the past tense (passato prossimo) is usually built with two parts, similar to saying we have eaten in English. You use a helper verb, which here is abbiamo (we have), and the past participle of the main verb, which is mangiato (eaten).
How do I make the word mangiato?
Mangiato is the past participle of the verb mangiare (to eat). To form the past participle of regular verbs that end in -are, you simply drop the -are and add -ato.
Since it was a group of people (we) who ate, shouldn't mangiato end in an i or e?
No, and this is a very important rule! When you build the past tense using the helper verb avere (like abbiamo), the past participle ending does not change to match the subject. It stays in its default -o form.
Why doesn't the sentence use noi to say we?
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