Question 1

What verb is fatto from?

Accepted Answer

Fatto is the past participle of fare (to do or to make). While regular verbs follow a predictable pattern to make their past forms, fare is irregular. It is one of the most common verbs in Italian, so fatto is a very important word to memorize!

Question 2

Why does the sentence use hanno (they have) if the English translation is "They did"?

Accepted Answer

In everyday spoken Italian, the past tense we use here (the passato prossimo) covers both "they have done" and "they did". Even though it literally translates to "they have done", it is the standard way to say "they did" in Italian.

Question 3

Why does ottimo come before lavoro? I thought adjectives go after the noun.

Accepted Answer

You are right that most adjectives go after the noun in Italian. However, certain common adjectives that express extreme quality, size, or beauty often go before the noun for emphasis. Saying un ottimo lavoro sounds much more natural and enthusiastic here.

Question 4

Why is the article un instead of uno before a word that starts with a vowel?

Accepted Answer

For masculine singular words starting with a vowel, the correct indefinite article (meaning "a" or "an") is just un. The word uno is only used for masculine words starting with a "z" or an "s" followed by a consonant, like uno sport.

Hanno fatto un ottimo lavoro.

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