Breakdown of C'è voluto molto tempo per imparare a frenare e ad accelerare.
e
and
il tempo
the time, the weather
molto
a lot of / much
per
for / in order to / because of
imparare
to learn
volerci
to take (time, impersonal)
a
(linking a verb to a following infinitive)
frenare
to brake
accelerare
to accelerate
Questions & Answers about C'è voluto molto tempo per imparare a frenare e ad accelerare.
Why does this sentence use "c'è voluto" instead of a form of "avere"?
Why does the participle end in "-o" (voluto)?
With volerci, the thing that takes time is actually the grammatical subject of the sentence. Here, the subject is molto tempo (a lot of time). Since tempo is masculine and singular, the verb is singular (c'è) and the past participle ends in "-o" (voluto). If the subject were plural, like "two hours", it would change to ci sono volute due ore.
Why do we use per before imparare?
After expressions of time like c'è voluto molto tempo, we use the preposition per before the infinitive verb to express purpose or intention. It acts like "in order to" in English, so this literally means "it took a lot of time in order to learn."
Why is there an a before frenare?
In Italian, certain verbs require a specific preposition before a following infinitive verb. The verb imparare (to learn) always requires a before the next verb, as in the pattern imparare a fare qualcosa (to learn to do something).
Why does the second a become ad before accelerare?
When the preposition a is followed by a word that starts with the same vowel "a" (like accelerare), Italians often add a "d" to make the pronunciation flow more smoothly. This is called a euphonic "d", and it is why you see ad accelerare.
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