Word
Dopo aver provato la giostra, la bambina ha avuto le vertigini.
Meaning
After having tried the ride, the little girl had vertigo.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Dopo aver provato la giostra, la bambina ha avuto le vertigini.
il bambino
the child
avere
to have
provare
to try
dopo
after
Questions & Answers about Dopo aver provato la giostra, la bambina ha avuto le vertigini.
Why does the sentence use dopo aver provato instead of just dopo provare?
When we want to express that something happened after an action was completely finished, we use dopo followed by the past infinitive. Because trying the ride happened before she got dizzy, we use aver provato (after having tried).
Why is the 'e' missing from the end of avere in aver provato?
It is very common in Italian to drop the final 'e' of the infinitive verbs avere and essere when they are immediately followed by a past participle. Saying dopo aver provato flows more naturally and is easier to say quickly than dopo avere provato, though both are grammatically correct.
How do we know to use aver instead of esser for the helping verb in this structure?
The past infinitive follows the exact same rules for helping verbs as the regular past tense (passato prossimo). The verb provare (to try) takes a direct object here, which is la giostra (the ride), so it uses the helping verb avere. If the action was about moving from one place to another, you would use essere.
Why is le vertigini plural when in English we usually just say 'vertigo' or 'dizziness'?