Learn Italian: Hai messo la maschera prima di tuffarti? - Did you put on the mask before jumping in?

Hai messo la maschera prima di tuffarti?

Did you put on the mask before jumping in?

Breakdown of Hai messo la maschera prima di tuffarti?

avere

to have

mettere

to put / to put on / play (music)

prima di

before (doing something) / before (a noun / point in time)

la maschera

the mask

Questions & Answers about Hai messo la maschera prima di tuffarti?

How does prima di work when we want to say "before doing" something?

When the subject is the same in both parts of the sentence, Italian uses prima di followed by the infinitive (the base form) of the verb. In English, we usually say "before jumping", but in Italian, it's prima di + infinitive.

Why is the word ti attached to the end of tuffarti?

The verb for "to dive" or "to jump in" is the reflexive verb tuffarsi. When an infinitive follows a preposition like di, you drop the final -e of the verb and attach the reflexive pronoun. Since the subject is "you" (tu), we use ti, creating tuffarti.

I learned that mettere means "to put", but here it translates to "put on"?

Exactly! In Italian, you don't need an extra word for "on" when talking about clothing or gear. The verb mettere is used both for putting an object somewhere and for putting on an item, like la maschera.

Why is the past participle of mettere spelled messo?

Mettere is an irregular verb. Instead of following the normal pattern for verbs ending in -ere, its past participle is messo. So, to say "you put on" in the past tense, you use the helper verb avere and say hai messo.