Question 1

Why use da musicista instead of come un musicista for "as a musician"?

Accepted Answer

The preposition da followed directly by a noun (with no article) is the standard way to express a role, profession, or phase of life in Italian. While come un musicista means "like a musician" (implying he plays like one, even if he isn't one), da musicista means he is actually working in that role.

Question 2

Could I use da for his age here too, like da vent'anni?

Accepted Answer

No, da vent'anni would mean "for twenty years" (indicating how long an action has been happening). To say "when he was twenty", you must use the verb avere in the past tense: aveva vent'anni. However, you can use da for general life stages, such as da giovane (as a young man) or da bambino (as a child).

Question 3

Why are both verbs in this sentence (aveva and lavorava) in the imperfect tense?

Accepted Answer

The imperfect tense (l'imperfetto) is used for descriptions and ongoing situations in the past. Having a certain age is always treated as a continuous state in Italian, so we use aveva. Similarly, lavorava shows that his work as a musician was an ongoing routine or background situation during that year, not a single, finished event.

Question 4

Since the sentence drops the subject pronoun, how do we know it translates to "he"?

Accepted Answer

Without more context, we don't! The third-person imperfect verbs aveva and lavorava can refer to lui (he), lei (she), or even Lei (formal you). The English translation here defaults to "he", but this sentence could just as easily mean "When she was twenty years old, she was already working as a musician."

Quando aveva vent'anni, lavorava già da musicista.

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