Word
Ci ho messo due mesi per finire l'autoscuola.
Meaning
I took two months to finish the driving school.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Ci ho messo due mesi per finire l'autoscuola.
il mese
the month
due
two
finire
to finish
per
for / in order to / because of
Questions & Answers about Ci ho messo due mesi per finire l'autoscuola.
Why do we use ho (avere) here instead of essere?
The verb in this sentence is metterci (to take/spend time doing something). In the passato prossimo, metterci always takes the auxiliary verb avere. This means the subject is the person who spent the time (I took two months, so we use ho). This is different from the other time verb you are learning, volerci, which takes essere.
Why doesn't messo change to match the plural due mesi?
Because metterci uses the auxiliary verb avere. When a verb uses avere in the passato prossimo, its past participle generally does not change to match the object; it stays in the default -o form. So, even though due mesi is plural, the participle remains messo.
Could I rewrite this exact sentence using volerci instead of metterci?
Yes, but the grammar changes completely! With volerci, the time itself becomes the subject, not you. You would say Ci sono voluti due mesi per finire l'autoscuola (It took two months to finish the driving school). Notice how it uses essere and the participle changes to voluti to match due mesi, but it no longer specifies that you were the one who took the time.
Why do we use right before ?