Learn Italian: È arrivato in palestra presto. - He arrived at the gym early.

È arrivato in palestra presto.

He arrived at the gym early.

Breakdown of È arrivato in palestra presto.

essere

to be

in / made of (material)

arrivare

to arrive

presto

early / soon / quickly, hurry

Questions & Answers about È arrivato in palestra presto.

Why does this sentence use È instead of Ha for "He has"?

In Italian, the past tense (passato prossimo) usually uses avere (to have) as a helper verb, but verbs describing motion to or from a destination, like arrivare (to arrive), use essere (to be). Literally, this sentence says "He is arrived".

Since there is no lui (he) or lei (she) in the sentence, how do we know it means "He arrived"?

Look at the ending of arrivato. When a past tense verb uses essere (to be) as its helper, the main verb's ending has to match the subject, just like an adjective. Because arrivato ends in -o, we know the hidden subject is a single male (he). If a woman arrived, it would be È arrivata.

Why is it in palestra instead of alla palestra (at the gym)?

Certain common daily destinations in Italian always use the preposition in without the word "the" attached. Palestra (gym) is one of these standard exceptions. You will also see this rule with places like in banca (at the bank) and in farmacia (at the pharmacy).

If a woman arrived early, would presto change to presta?