Question 1

Why do we use avere (abbiamo) as the auxiliary verb for passato here? Doesn't passare usually take essere?

Accepted Answer

Passare is a verb that can take either avere or essere depending on how it is used. When it has a direct object—meaning you are passing or spending something (in this case, un periodo difficile)—it must take avere. If there were no direct object, such as when saying "The period has passed" (Il periodo è passato), you would use essere.

Question 2

Does passare mean "to go through" here?

Accepted Answer

Yes! While you might usually translate passare as "to pass" or "to spend" (like spending time), when you are talking about a challenging experience, translating it as "going through" or "experiencing" sounds much more natural in English.

Question 3

Why does the adjective nuova come before gestione, but difficile comes after periodo?

Accepted Answer

In Italian, most descriptive adjectives (like difficile) go after the noun they describe to provide specific, distinguishing information. However, a small group of very common adjectives relating to age, size, or quality—such as nuovo, vecchio, bello, and buono—typically go before the noun.

Question 4

Gestione ends in -e, so how do we know it is feminine and takes the article la?

Accepted Answer

While nouns ending in -e can be either masculine or feminine, there is a very reliable rule here: Italian nouns ending in the suffixes -zione or -sione (like la gestione, la lezione, la decisione) are almost exclusively feminine.

Abbiamo passato un periodo difficile con la nuova gestione.

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