Learn Italian: Hai letto questa rivista recentemente? - Have you read this magazine recently?

Hai letto questa rivista recentemente?

Have you read this magazine recently?

Breakdown of Hai letto questa rivista recentemente?

Questions & Answers about Hai letto questa rivista recentemente?

What verb does letto come from?

It comes from leggere (to read). Letto is an irregular past participle. Just like in English where "write" becomes "written" instead of "writed," some very common Italian verbs don't follow the normal -ato, -uto, or -ito past tense endings. You just have to memorize them!

Since rivista is feminine, why doesn't letto change to letta?

Good eye! Because the helper verb in this sentence is a form of avere (hai), the past participle (letto) stays in its default form ending in -o. It doesn't need to change its ending to match the subject or the object here.

Why is it questa instead of questo?

Questa means "this," and it must match the gender of the noun it describes. Because rivista (magazine) is a feminine singular word, we use the feminine singular questa. If you were talking about a masculine word, like a book (libro), you would use questo.

Does the ending -mente in recentemente work like "-ly" in English?