Learn Italian: I soldati conquistarono la città. - The soldiers conquered the city.

I soldati conquistarono la città.

The soldiers conquered the city.

Breakdown of I soldati conquistarono la città.

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Questions & Answers about I soldati conquistarono la città.

How do I form the loro (they) form of the passato remoto for regular -are verbs like conquistare?

You drop the -are ending and add -arono. So, conquistare becomes conquistarono (they conquered). If it were just one soldier, you would add -ò to make the 3rd person singular: Il soldato conquistò (the soldier conquered).

Why is this sentence using the passato remoto (conquistarono) instead of the passato prossimo (hanno conquistato)?

The passato remoto (remote past) is used for events that happened in the distant past and have no direct connection to the present. You will see it constantly in history books and literature, which makes it perfect for a historical sentence describing a past military conquest.

Where does the stress fall when pronouncing conquistarono?

The stress falls on the third-to-last syllable: con-qui-STA-ro-no. For all regular verbs in the 'they' form of the passato remoto, whether they end in -arono, -erono, or -irono, the emphasis is always placed on the first vowel of that ending.

The word città has an accent at the end. How would I change this sentence if they conquered multiple cities?