Learn Italian: Dopo aver organizzato la cerimonia, chiamiamo il fotografo. - After having organized the ceremony, we call the photographer.

Dopo aver organizzato la cerimonia, chiamiamo il fotografo.

After having organized the ceremony, we call the photographer.

Breakdown of Dopo aver organizzato la cerimonia, chiamiamo il fotografo.

Questions & Answers about Dopo aver organizzato la cerimonia, chiamiamo il fotografo.

Why is it aver organizzato instead of just organizzare?

In Italian, when you want to say 'after doing something', you must use dopo followed by the past infinitive. You form this with the infinitive of the auxiliary verb (avere or essere) plus the past participle. So, 'after organizing' becomes dopo aver organizzato (literally 'after to have organized').

Why is avere shortened to aver here?

Dropping the final -e of an infinitive is very common in Italian to make the sentence flow better, especially before a word starting with a vowel, like organizzato. It is optional but sounds much more natural.

Could I use prima di (before) in the exact same grammatical way if I wanted to change the meaning?

Close, but not quite! While dopo is always followed by the past infinitive (aver organizzato), prima di is followed by the present infinitive. So 'before organizing' would simply be prima di organizzare.

Why is chiamiamo in the present tense if they are calling the photographer after organizing the ceremony?

Italian frequently uses the present tense to talk about immediate future plans or a direct sequence of actions. It gives a conversational sense of 'once this is done, we call him right away.'