Learn Italian: Maria si è truccata stamattina. - Maria put on makeup this morning.

In Italian, all reflexive verbs use the helper verb essere (to be) in the past tense (passato prossimo). Because Maria is doing the action to herself, you must use è instead of ha.

Why does the past participle truccata end in -a?

When a past tense verb uses essere as its helper verb, the past participle (the main action word) has to match the subject in gender and number. Since Maria is female, the default -o ending changes to an -a.

What is the purpose of si in this sentence?

si is the reflexive pronoun for the third person (himself, herself, or themselves). The base verb truccare means to put makeup on someone else. To say Maria put makeup on herself, we use the reflexive form, and the si goes right before the helper verb.

Is stamattina a single word?

Yes, it is written as one word, but it is a common contraction of questa mattina (this morning). You will hear Italians use this combined version all the time in everyday conversation!