Learn Italian: Marco è andato in palestra stamattina. - Marco went to the gym this morning.

In Italian, the past tense is usually formed with the helper verb avere (to have). However, verbs that describe movement from one destination to another, like andare (to go), use essere (to be) instead. So literally, this sentence says "Marco is gone".

What if the subject was a woman, like Maria? Would the verb change?

Yes! When a past tense verb uses essere as the helper verb, the ending of the action word (the past participle) must match the subject in gender and number. If Maria went to the gym, she is feminine, so the ending changes to an -a: Maria è andata in palestra.

Why do we use the preposition in instead of alla (to the) for the gym?

While you often use a or alla for going to places, Italian has specific categories of places that always take in without the word "the" attached. Palestra (gym) is one of these words. Other common examples include places ending in -ia (like in pizzeria) and in banca (to the bank).

Is stamattina a single word?