Learn Italian: Siccome il problema è grave, sono dovuto partire subito. - Since the problem is serious, I had to leave immediately.

Siccome il problema è grave, sono dovuto partire subito.

Since the problem is serious, I had to leave immediately.

Breakdown of Siccome il problema è grave, sono dovuto partire subito.

immediately / right away

Questions & Answers about Siccome il problema è grave, sono dovuto partire subito.

Why does this sentence use sono dovuto instead of ho dovuto?

When a modal verb like dovere (to have to) is used in the past tense (passato prossimo), it borrows its helping verb from the action verb that follows it. Since partire (to leave) is a verb of movement that takes essere, the modal verb also takes essere, giving us sono dovuto.

If a woman is speaking, does sono dovuto change?

Yes! Whenever you use essere as your helping verb, the past participle must match the gender and number of the subject. A female speaker would say sono dovuta partire.

Why is it il problema when the word ends in '-a'? Shouldn't it be feminine?

Problema is an exception. It comes from Greek, and many Italian words of Greek origin ending in '-a' are actually masculine. That is why it uses il, and its plural is i problemi.

Could I say Perché il problema è grave instead of using Siccome?

In Italian, you generally do not start a sentence with perché when stating a reason. Siccome is used to put 'since' or 'because' at the very beginning of a sentence. To use perché, you would flip the sentence around: Sono dovuto partire subito perché il problema è grave.