Learn Italian: Le donne si sono sbrigate per il concerto. - The women hurried up for the concert.

In the past tense, all reflexive verbs like sbrigarsi (to hurry oneself) must use essere (to be) as their helping verb. That is why we use sono instead of a form of avere (to have).

Why does the verb end in -e (sbrigate)?

Whenever you use essere as a helping verb in the past tense, the past participle (the main verb) must agree with the subject in gender and number. Since Le donne (the women) is feminine plural, the default ending -o changes to the feminine plural ending -e.

What does the word si do in this sentence?

Si is a reflexive pronoun meaning 'themselves'. In Italian, the verb 'to hurry' is sbrigarsi (literally 'to hurry oneself'). When forming the past tense, this reflexive pronoun goes right in front of the helping verb, giving us si sono sbrigate.

I see per il concerto. Do per and il ever merge together into one word?