Breakdown of Stamattina ha telefonato alla sua amica.
l'amica
the female friend (f)
avere
to have
suo
his/her/Your
a
to / at
stamattina
this morning
telefonare
to telephone
Questions & Answers about Stamattina ha telefonato alla sua amica.
Why does 'she called' translate to two words (ha telefonato)?
To talk about the past in Italian, you usually use the passato prossimo (recent past). It requires two pieces: a helper verb (here, ha meaning 'she has') and a regular past participle (here, telefonato meaning 'called' or 'telephoned'). You cannot just use telefonato by itself!
Where is the word for 'she' in this sentence?
It is dropped! Italian usually leaves out subject pronouns like lei (she) because the helper verb (ha) already tells us it is a 'he', 'she', or 'it' doing the action. Without the English translation to guide us, this sentence could also perfectly mean 'He called his friend'.
Why does the Italian sentence say she called 'to' her friend?
The verb telefonare (to call by phone) works differently than in English. In Italian, you do not call someone directly; you call 'to' someone. This means the verb must be followed by the preposition a (to).
How do we get the word alla before sua amica?
In Italian, you almost always put a definite article (like 'the') in front of possessive words like sua (her). So, 'her friend' is la sua amica. When you combine the required preposition a (to) with the article la (the), they merge together to make the combined word alla.
Is stamattina one word or two?
It is written as one word and means 'this morning', but it is actually a shortened, squished-together version of the two words questa mattina. Italians use this contraction all the time in everyday speech.
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