Learn Italian: Questi permessi vanno autorizzati dal funzionario. - These permits must be authorized by the official.

Questi permessi vanno autorizzati dal funzionario.

These permits must be authorized by the official.

Breakdown of Questi permessi vanno autorizzati dal funzionario.

by the (agent of a passive verb)

andare

must be (+ past participle)

Questions & Answers about Questi permessi vanno autorizzati dal funzionario.

Doesn't vanno mean "they go"? Why is the translation "must be authorized"?

You are right that vanno is the "they" form of andare (to go). However, when andare is used as a helping verb right before a past participle (like autorizzati), it creates a special passive voice that shows necessity. It means the action must or needs to be done. Therefore, vanno autorizzati means "must be authorized."

Could I just say devono essere autorizzati instead?

Yes! Devono essere autorizzati means exactly the same thing. Using andare + past participle is just a shorter, very common way to express this kind of obligation in Italian, especially for rules, procedures, or formal instructions.

Why does autorizzati end in -i here?

In any passive sentence, the past participle acts like an adjective and must agree in gender and number with the subject. Since the subject receiving the action here is questi permessi (masculine plural), the default past participle autorizzato changes its ending to match, becoming autorizzati.

Why do we use dal instead of just da before funzionario?