Breakdown of La dea decise la vendetta perché il mortale disse una bugia.
una
a / an (feminine)
perché
because, why
dire
to say, to tell
decidere
to decide
Questions & Answers about La dea decise la vendetta perché il mortale disse una bugia.
Why does the verb decidere become decise here?
Decise is the passato remoto (historic past) of decidere. This verb is irregular in this tense. Instead of following the regular -ere ending rules, its root changes to decis- for the io, lui/lei, and loro forms, making the lui/lei form decise.
Where does the form disse come from?
Disse is the lui/lei form of dire (to say/tell) in the passato remoto. It is a very common irregular verb. The double s is a pattern you will see in several other irregular historic past tense verbs, such as scrisse (wrote) and lesse (read).
In English we "tell" a lie. Why does this sentence use dire (to say) instead of a verb like raccontare (to tell)?
Is dea (goddess) related to the word dio (god)?