Breakdown of Un milione di anni fa, questo animale non era estinto.
essere
to be
un
a / an (masculine)
questo
this (masculine)
non
not
l'anno
the year
di
of, from
l'animale
animal
fa
ago
il milione
million
estinto
extinct
Questions & Answers about Un milione di anni fa, questo animale non era estinto.
How does fa work to mean 'ago' in this sentence?
Why is there a di in un milione di anni?
In Italian, milione acts as a noun meaning 'a million' rather than just a simple number. Because it is a noun, you must connect it to the following noun (anni) using di, making it literally 'a million of years.' This rule applies to milione (million) and miliardo (billion), but not to smaller numbers like cento (one hundred) or mille (one thousand).
Why do we use the imperfect tense era instead of the passato prossimo è stato?
Era is the imperfect tense of essere (to be). We use the imperfect here because it describes an ongoing state or condition in the past (the animal being alive and not extinct over a long period). If we used the passato prossimo (è stato), it would sound like a single, completed action rather than an ongoing past reality.
Why does the sentence use questo animale instead of quest'animale with an apostrophe?
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