Learn Italian: Mia madre si è preoccupata per il viaggio.

Mia madre si è preoccupata per il viaggio.

My mother worried about the trip.

Breakdown of Mia madre si è preoccupata per il viaggio.

for / in order to / because of

Questions & Answers about Mia madre si è preoccupata per il viaggio.

Why do we use è instead of ha to say she "worried"?

The verb here is preoccuparsi (to worry oneself), which is a reflexive verb (notice the si). In Italian, all reflexive verbs must use essere (to be) as their helper verb in the past tense. Therefore, we use è rather than ha.

Why does the verb end in -a (preoccupata)?

Whenever a past tense verb uses essere as its helper verb, the ending of the main action word (the past participle) has to match the subject. Because mia madre is feminine and singular, the verb takes the feminine singular -a ending. If the sentence was about a father, it would be si è preoccupato.

I learned that "my" is usually il mio or la mia. Why is there no la before mia madre?

You usually do need the article, like in la mia casa (my house). However, family members are an exception! When talking about one close family member in the singular (like madre, padre, or sorella), you drop the il or la.

Doesn't per mean "for"? Why does the translation say "about"?

Prepositions rarely translate perfectly one-to-one between English and Italian. While per very often means "for", the standard Italian expression for "to worry about" is preoccuparsi per.