Breakdown of Dopo aver regolato la luce, ha scattato la foto.
la luce
the light
avere
to have
la foto
the photo
dopo
after
regolare
to adjust
scattare
to shoot (a photo)
Questions & Answers about Dopo aver regolato la luce, ha scattato la foto.
Wait, the lesson is about the trapassato prossimo (pluperfect). Why didn't we use it here?
You actually can! You could say Dopo che aveva regolato la luce (After she had adjusted the light) using the trapassato prossimo. However, when the same person is doing both actions, Italians prefer to use dopo followed by the past infinitive (aver regolato, meaning "having adjusted"). It's a very common, natural shortcut.
Why does it say "aver" instead of "avere"?
When forming the past infinitive, the helper verb (avere or essere) often drops its final "e". So avere regolato becomes aver regolato. This just makes the words flow together more smoothly when speaking.
Does "scattare" always mean "to take"?
How do we know who took the photo if the Italian sentence doesn't say "lei" (she)?
The verb ha scattato simply means "he took," "she took," or "it took" (or even the formal "you took"). Because Italian drops subject pronouns when they are obvious from context, the translation chooses "she" to give a complete English sentence. In real life, it could just as easily be "he took" depending on who you were already talking about.
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