Question 1

How is the verb diceva formed, and why is it used instead of ha detto?

Accepted Answer

The verb diceva is the imperfetto (imperfect) tense of dire (to say). You use the imperfetto here because the question asks about a past habit or an ongoing past action, like "What did he used to say?" or "What was he saying?". Dire is irregular because its imperfetto stem comes from its old Latin form, dicere. You use the stem dic- and add the regular endings, making the he/she form diceva.

Question 2

Why does the sentence use della to mean "about the"?

Accepted Answer

In Italian, the preposition di (of) is often used to mean "about" a topic, especially after communication verbs like dire (to say) or parlare (to speak). Because strega (witch) is a singular feminine noun, you must combine di with the word for "the" (la). When di and la mash together, they form della.

Question 3

Why is it just tuo padre and not il tuo padre?

Accepted Answer

Normally, Italian requires a word for "the" before possessives, like in la tua casa (your house). However, there is a strict exception for family members: when talking about a single, close family member like padre, madre, or sorella, you must drop the "the". So, it becomes simply tuo padre.

Question 4

Is it okay to just say Cosa instead of Che cosa?

Accepted Answer

Yes, absolutely! Che cosa, Cosa, and sometimes just Che all mean "what" when asking a question. In everyday spoken Italian, it is very common to shorten this to just Cosa diceva..., but Che cosa is equally correct.

Che cosa diceva tuo padre della strega?

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