Breakdown of Il lavoro è diventato difficile.
essere
to be
difficile
difficult
il lavoro
work / job
diventare
to become
Questions & Answers about Il lavoro è diventato difficile.
Why do we use è (is) instead of ha (has) to say "became"?
In Italian, the past tense (passato prossimo) is usually formed with the helper verb avere (to have). However, verbs that describe movement, a state of being, or a change of state use essere (to be) instead. Because diventare (to become) describes a change of state, it uses è. Literally, the sentence says "The work is become difficult."
Why does the past participle diventato end in -o here?
When you use essere as your helper verb in the past tense, the past participle (the action word) must agree with the subject, just like an adjective. Since il lavoro is masculine and singular, diventato ends in -o. If the subject were feminine, like la situazione (the situation), it would change to match it: la situazione è diventata.
If lavoro is masculine, why doesn't difficile end in -o?
Not all adjectives end in -o for masculine and -a for feminine. Difficile belongs to a common group of adjectives that end in -e in the singular. These adjectives use the exact same form for both masculine and feminine words, so it stays difficile whether it describes il lavoro (masculine) or la vita (the life, feminine).
Does è diventato mean "became" or "has become"?
It can mean both! The Italian past tense used here (passato prossimo) translates to both the English simple past ("The work became difficult") and the present perfect ("The work has become difficult"). You can choose whichever sounds most natural in English based on the context of the conversation.
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