Learn Italian: Ha lavorato qui per tutta la sua carriera. - He worked here for his whole career.

Ha lavorato qui per tutta la sua carriera.

He worked here for his whole career.

Breakdown of Ha lavorato qui per tutta la sua carriera.

for / in order to / because of

Questions & Answers about Ha lavorato qui per tutta la sua carriera.

Since this sentence is about an amount of time, why do we use per instead of da?

We use per to talk about a duration of time that is completely finished, meaning he no longer works there. If the action were still ongoing (meaning he still works there today), Italian would use da along with a present tense verb (lavora).

Why is it la sua carriera (feminine) if the English translation says "his career"?

In Italian, possessives like sua must agree with the gender and number of the thing being owned, not the owner. Because carriera is a feminine singular noun, it requires la sua, even if the person who has the career is a man.

Why does the article la come after tutta instead of before it?

Whenever you use a form of tutto (meaning "all" or "whole"), the definite article always comes immediately after it, before the possessive or noun. So literally, this phrase translates to "for all the his career".

Could ha lavorato also mean "she worked" in this sentence?

Yes! Because Italian often drops subject pronouns like lui (he) or lei (she), ha lavorato could mean "he worked," "she worked," or even "you (formal) worked." Without a pronoun, you would rely on the surrounding context of the conversation to know exactly who is being talked about.