Breakdown of Ce l'abbiamo fatta ad andarcene senza pagare il conto.
senza
without
il conto
the bill
pagare
to pay
farcela
to manage / to succeed (idiomatic)
andarsene
to leave / to go away (from a place)
a
(linking a verb to a following infinitive)
Questions & Answers about Ce l'abbiamo fatta ad andarcene senza pagare il conto.
Why do we use the infinitive pagare here instead of conjugating it to match 'we'?
In Italian, when the subject of the main clause and the subordinate clause is exactly the same (in this case, 'we' managed to leave and 'we' didn't pay), you use senza followed directly by an infinitive. This is a much more natural way to express 'without doing something' than trying to conjugate the second verb.
What is the base verb for ce l'abbiamo fatta, and how does it work?
The verb is farcela, a common pronominal verb that means 'to manage', 'to succeed', or 'to make it'. It is made of fare (to do/make), ci (which becomes ce before another pronoun), and la (referring to a generic situation). When used in a past tense like the passato prossimo, the past participle must agree with the feminine pronoun la, which is why it becomes fatta regardless of who is speaking.
Why is there a 'd' at the end of ad before andarcene?
The preposition is actually just a. The verb farcela requires the preposition a when it is followed by an infinitive verb (farcela a fare qualcosa). Because the following word, andarcene, starts with the same vowel 'a', a 'd' is added for a smoother sound. This is called a euphonic D.
How do you break down all the pieces attached to the end of andarcene?
This comes from another pronominal verb, andarsene (to leave or go away). It combines andare (to go), a reflexive pronoun, and the particle ne (meaning 'from here' or 'away'). Since the subject is 'we', the reflexive pronoun is ci. When you stick ci and ne onto the end of the dropped-e infinitive (andar-), the ci changes to ce for phonetic reasons, giving us andarcene.
Could we use a past infinitive here and say senza aver pagato instead of senza pagare?
Yes, you absolutely could. Using the present infinitive senza pagare describes the leaving and the not paying as happening as a single situation. Using the past infinitive senza aver pagato (without having paid) just puts a slightly stronger emphasis on the fact that the non-payment was a completed state before you left. Both are completely natural in this context.
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