Learn Italian: Quella ragazza aveva una bambola molto vecchia.

Quella ragazza aveva una bambola molto vecchia.

That girl had a very old doll.

Breakdown of Quella ragazza aveva una bambola molto vecchia.

Questions & Answers about Quella ragazza aveva una bambola molto vecchia.

Why do we use aveva instead of ha avuto for 'had'?

Aveva is the imperfetto (imperfect tense) of avere. We use the imperfetto here because it describes an ongoing state or possession in the past, setting the scene of how things used to be. If we used the passato prossimo (ha avuto), it would sound like a single, completed event, such as receiving the doll and then losing it right away.

Why does the sentence use quella instead of quel?

The word for 'that' changes depending on the noun it points to, similar to how you choose between il, lo, or la for 'the'. Because ragazza is a feminine singular noun, we must use the feminine singular form, which is quella.

Why does vecchia end in '-a' while molto ends in '-o'?

Vecchia (old) is an adjective describing la bambola (the doll). Since the doll is feminine singular, the adjective must match it and end in '-a'. However, molto (very) is an adverb here because it describes the adjective, not the noun. Adverbs never change their endings to match gender or number, so it stays molto.

Could we put molto vecchia before una bambola?