Question 1

How do we form the loro (they) form of the passato remoto for a verb like salvare?

Accepted Answer

It comes from the regular -are verb salvare (to save). To make the "they" form in the passato remoto, you drop the -are ending and add -arono, giving us salvarono.

Question 2

Why use the passato remoto (salvarono) here instead of the passato prossimo (hanno salvato)?

Accepted Answer

The passato remoto (historical past) is used for events that happened in the distant past and are completely finished. Sentences about ancient soldiers and emperors usually belong to history books or fairy tales, which is exactly where this tense is used. In everyday spoken Italian about a recent event, you would use the passato prossimo instead: I soldati hanno salvato l'imperatore.

Question 3

Where does the stress fall when pronouncing salvarono?

Accepted Answer

In the loro form of the passato remoto, the spoken stress always falls on the third-to-last syllable. For salvarono, you emphasize the va: sal-VA-ro-no.

Question 4

Why does imperatore use the article l' instead of il?

Accepted Answer

Imperatore is a masculine singular noun that starts with a vowel. In Italian, you drop the vowel from the masculine article lo (or feminine la) and add an apostrophe before nouns starting with a vowel, creating l'imperatore. This makes the words flow together smoothly.

I soldati salvarono l'imperatore.

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