Breakdown of Ha detto che quel giorno doveva aggiustare il freno e la gomma per la revisione.
e
and
quello
that
il giorno
the day
per
for / in order to / because of
dovere
must
dire
to say, to tell
che
that (conjunction introducing a clause)
il freno
the brake
la gomma
the tire
aggiustare
to fix
la revisione
the inspection
Questions & Answers about Ha detto che quel giorno doveva aggiustare il freno e la gomma per la revisione.
Why does the sentence use quel giorno instead of oggi?
This sentence is an example of past indirect speech. If the person originally said, "I have to fix the brake today" (oggi), the time frame shifts when we report it later. "Today" changes to "that day" (quel giorno).
Why is the modal verb doveva in the imperfect tense?
In past reported speech, present tense verbs from the original quote shift back to the imperfect tense. The speaker originally said, "Devo aggiustare..." (I have to fix...). Because the main reporting verb is in the past (ha detto), devo shifts to doveva.
Is la revisione related to studying for an exam?
No, this is a tricky false friend! In the context of vehicles (brakes and tires), la revisione refers to the mandatory vehicle safety inspection (like an MOT or state inspection). If you want to talk about "revision" for a test, you would use il ripasso.
Could I use riparare instead of aggiustare to mean "to fix"?
Yes, you can! Riparare and aggiustare both mean "to fix" or "to repair" and are completely interchangeable in this context. Aggiustare is very common in everyday spoken Italian.
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