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Siamo andati in gita al lago.

Siamo andati in gita al lago.
We went on a trip to the lake.
From Lesson 70:The passato prossimo with essere (sono andato)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Siamo andati in gita al lago.

Why do we use siamo andati instead of abbiamo andato?
Because andare (to go) is a verb of motion. In the past tense (passato prossimo), verbs that describe moving from one place to another use essere (to be) as their helper verb instead of avere (to have). So, Italians literally say "we are gone" rather than "we have gone".
Why does andati end in -i here?
Whenever a past tense verb uses essere as its helper, the action word (the past participle) has to match the subject, almost like an adjective. Since "we" is plural, the default singular form andato changes to the plural andati. If the group consisted entirely of women, it would be siamo andate.
Why is it in gita without a word for "a" or "the"?
In gita is a set phrase that means "on a trip" or "on an outing". Italian often uses just the preposition in without an article for travel-related activities, similar to how we say "on vacation" (in vacanza) in English.
How does al lago translate to "to the lake"?
Al is a combined word made by merging a (to) and the masculine "the", il. When talking about going to certain locations, including bodies of water like a lake or the sea, Italian uses the preposition a. This gives us a + il = al.

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