Abbiamo chiacchierato molto perché ci siamo diplomati insieme.

Questions & Answers about Abbiamo chiacchierato molto perché ci siamo diplomati insieme.

Why does diplomati end in -i but chiacchierato ends in -o?
Chiacchierare uses the helper verb avere (abbiamo), so its past participle stays in the default -o form. However, diplomarsi is a reflexive verb. All reflexive verbs use essere (siamo) in the passato prossimo, meaning the past participle must agree with the subject in gender and number. Since 'we' refers to a plural subject, the ending becomes -i.
Does diplomati mean they graduated from university?
Usually, no. In Italian, diplomarsi specifically refers to graduating from high school or getting a secondary diploma. If you want to say you graduated from university with a degree, you would use the reflexive verb laurearsi.
Both actions happened in the past. Why isn't the second verb in the imperfetto?
Even though 'because we graduated together' provides background context for why they chatted, graduating is a single, completed, and definitive event. The imperfetto is used for ongoing states or repeated habits in the past, so the passato prossimo is the correct choice here for a one-time completed action.
Could I say abbiamo molto chiacchierato instead?
It is much more natural to say abbiamo chiacchierato molto. In Italian, adverbs of quantity like molto, poco, and troppo generally go immediately after the past participle in compound tenses, rather than breaking up the helper verb and the participle.

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