Breakdown of Volevamo partire, ma abbiamo dovuto disdire tutto per un'urgenza.
una
a / an (feminine)
ma
but
avere
to have
partire
to leave
tutto
everything
per
for / in order to / because of
volere
to want
dovere
must
disdire
to cancel (an appointment, reservation)
l'urgenza
the urgency
Questions & Answers about Volevamo partire, ma abbiamo dovuto disdire tutto per un'urgenza.
Why do we use the imperfetto for volevamo but the passato prossimo for abbiamo dovuto?
What if we had used the imperfetto for both, saying dovevamo disdire?
If you say dovevamo disdire, it means 'we were supposed to cancel' (an ongoing obligation), but it leaves it a mystery whether you actually did it or not. Using the passato prossimo (abbiamo dovuto disdire) confirms that the cancellation definitely happened.
Why does dovere use avere as its helper verb here (abbiamo dovuto) instead of essere?
In the passato prossimo, modal verbs usually 'borrow' the helper verb of the infinitive that follows them. Because disdire (to cancel) takes avere, the modal verb jumping in front of it must also take avere. If the action we had to do was a verb taking essere, like partire, it would be siamo dovuti partire.
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