Learn Italian: I ragazzi hanno riso dopo aver visto la giostra.

I ragazzi hanno riso dopo aver visto la giostra.

The boys laughed after seeing the ride.

Breakdown of I ragazzi hanno riso dopo aver visto la giostra.

Questions & Answers about I ragazzi hanno riso dopo aver visto la giostra.

Why does the sentence use dopo aver visto instead of a word that translates exactly to "seeing"?

In English, we usually say "after seeing" or "after doing" something. In Italian, when the same people do both actions (the boys laughed, and the boys saw the ride), you use dopo followed by the past infinitive. You build this by putting the helper verb (avere or essere) in its infinitive form, followed by the past participle of your main verb (visto).

Why is it aver visto and not avere visto?

When forming the past infinitive, Italians almost always drop the final -e from the helper verb to make it flow better in speech. So, dopo avere visto becomes dopo aver visto. If a verb took essere as its helper, you would drop the -e there too, making it esser.

Doesn't riso mean "rice"? Why is it used here?

It does mean "rice" when used as a noun! However, here riso is the irregular past participle of the verb ridere (to laugh). Combined with the helper verb hanno, hanno riso means "they laughed" or "they have laughed".

Which verb does visto come from?

Visto is the irregular past participle of vedere (to see). Because it's a completely irregular form, it has to be memorized. You'll use it exactly the same way here in the past infinitive as you do in the normal past tense (the passato prossimo).