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Dopo essere saliti sulla giostra, abbiamo riso molto.

Dopo essere saliti sulla giostra, abbiamo riso molto.
After getting on the ride, we laughed a lot.
From Lesson 158:Past infinitive with dopo (dopo aver..., dopo essere...)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Dopo essere saliti sulla giostra, abbiamo riso molto.

Why do we say essere saliti instead of avere salito?
To say 'after doing something' in Italian, you use dopo followed by the past infinitive (an infinitive helper verb plus a past participle). We use essere as the helper verb here because salire (to go up/get on) is a verb of motion, which usually requires essere instead of avere.
Why does saliti end in an 'i' if the helper verb is an infinitive?
Whenever a compound tense uses essere as its helper verb, the past participle must agree with the subject. Even though essere is in its infinitive form here, the subject is 'we' (as we can tell from abbiamo later in the sentence). Therefore, salito changes to the plural saliti.
Why is the preposition sulla used here?
sulla is a combination of su (on) and la (the). In Italian, the verb salire is followed by su when you are getting 'on' or 'onto' a vehicle, a ride like la giostra (the merry-go-round), or something elevated.
I thought riso meant 'rice'. Why is it in this sentence?
It can be! il riso is the noun for 'rice'. However, in this sentence, riso is the irregular past participle of the verb ridere (to laugh). Together with the helper verb, abbiamo riso simply means 'we laughed'.

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