Learn Italian: Ti sei sposato l'anno scorso? - Did you get married last year?

Ti sei sposato l'anno scorso?

Did you get married last year?

Breakdown of Ti sei sposato l'anno scorso?

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Questions & Answers about Ti sei sposato l'anno scorso?

Why do we use sei instead of hai for the past tense here?

The verb here is sposarsi (to get married), which is a reflexive verb (shown by the pronoun ti). In Italian, all reflexive verbs must use essere (to be) as their helping verb in the past tense (passato prossimo). Instead of using avere (to have), you are literally saying "yourself you are married."

How would this sentence change if I were asking a woman?

It would become Ti sei sposata l'anno scorso? Whenever a past tense verb uses essere as its helper, the past participle (sposato) acts like an adjective and must change its ending to match the subject. Since you are speaking to a single female, the -o changes to an -a.

Why is there an l' before anno scorso?

In English, we just say "last year" without an article. However, Italian usually requires a definite article (the) for time expressions like this, making it literally "the year past." Because anno starts with a vowel, the singular article becomes l'.

Does scorso just mean "last"?