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Quando ha smesso di piovere, siamo usciti di casa.

Quando ha smesso di piovere, siamo usciti di casa.
When it stopped raining, we went out of the house.
From Lesson 109:While and when (mentre, quando)·Italian

Breakdown of Quando ha smesso di piovere, siamo usciti di casa.

la casa
house
di
of, from
quando
when
uscire
to go out
piovere
to rain
smettere
to stop

Questions & Answers about Quando ha smesso di piovere, siamo usciti di casa.

Why do we use the passato prossimo (ha smesso) after quando here, instead of the imperfetto?
Quando (when) is often used to introduce a specific, completed event that happens at a point in time, which is why it uses the passato prossimo here. If we wanted to describe an ongoing background action like "while it was raining", we would use mentre (while) with the imperfetto: mentre pioveva.
Why does the first half use avere (ha smesso) but the second half uses essere (siamo usciti)?
The auxiliary verb depends on the action. Smettere (to stop) takes avere. However, uscire (to go out) is a verb of movement, which requires essere. Because it uses essere, the ending of uscito must also change to match the plural "we" subject, becoming usciti.
Why is there a di before piovere?
In Italian, when the verb smettere (to stop) is followed by another action, you must connect them with the preposition di. So, "to stop raining" becomes smettere di piovere.
What is the infinitive of smesso?
It comes from smettere (to stop). Like many Italian verbs ending in -ere, it has an irregular past participle (smesso).
Why do we say di casa instead of dalla casa (from the house)?
Uscire di casa is a fixed, everyday phrase that simply means "to leave home" or "to go out". Using dalla casa would sound like you are walking out of a very specific building rather than the general idea of leaving your home.

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