Learn Italian: Ci abbiamo messo una settimana per riparare la frizione della macchina. - We took a week to repair the car's clutch.

Word

Ci abbiamo messo una settimana per riparare la frizione della macchina.

Meaning

We took a week to repair the car's clutch.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Italian

Lesson

Past tense of volerci and metterci (ci sono volute, ci ho messo)

Breakdown of Ci abbiamo messo una settimana per riparare la frizione della macchina.

for / in order to / because of

Questions & Answers about Ci abbiamo messo una settimana per riparare la frizione della macchina.

Why does the past participle remain messo instead of changing to match una settimana (a feminine noun)?

Because the verb metterci uses the auxiliary verb avere (here, abbiamo). When using avere in the past tense, the past participle doesn't change to match the object—it stays in its default -o form (messo). If we used volerci, which takes essere, it would have to match: ci è voluta una settimana.

What is the ci doing in ci abbiamo messo?

It is a permanent part of the verb metterci. While mettere means "to put", adding ci changes the meaning to "to take time" (literally "to put time into it"). The ci simply moves to the front of our conjugated verb.

Since the English says "We took a week," could I just say Abbiamo preso una settimana?

No, that is a common trap for English speakers! In Italian, you cannot use prendere (to take) for time. You must use metterci when talking about a person taking time to do something, or volerci to say how much time an action requires in general.

Why do we use per before riparare?