Question 1

Why is the verb sono volute plural when the English translation says "It took"?

Accepted Answer

With the impersonal verb volerci, the time itself is actually the subject of the sentence. Here, the subject is due ore (two hours), which is plural. Italian literally says "Two hours were needed." Because the subject is plural, the verb must be plural (sono volute).

Question 2

Why does the past participle end in "-e" (volute)?

Accepted Answer

In the past tense (passato prossimo), verbs that use essere as a helping verb must match their ending to the subject. Because the subject due ore (two hours) is feminine plural, the past participle voluto changes its ending to match, becoming volute.

Question 3

Why does this sentence use essere (sono) instead of avere?

Accepted Answer

The verb volerci always uses essere in the past tense. Remember that volerci is impersonal (general). If you wanted to make it personal and say "I took two hours," you would use the verb metterci, which uses avere in the past tense: Ci ho messo due ore.

Question 4

What is the ci doing at the beginning of the sentence?

Accepted Answer

It is a built-in part of the verb volerci. On its own, volere means "to want." But when you add the pronoun ci, the meaning completely changes to "to take [time/effort]" or "to be needed." When we conjugate the verb, that ci gets detached and placed right before the helping verb.

Question 5

Why is "on the highway" translated as in autostrada instead of using su (on)?

Accepted Answer

Italian uses the preposition in (without a definite article) for certain common locations, especially many ending in -a, such as in banca (at the bank), in discoteca (at the club), and in autostrada (on the highway).

Ci sono volute due ore in autostrada.

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