Breakdown of Si sono lasciati senza aver litigato.
essere
to be
avere
to have
senza
without
litigare
to argue
lasciarsi
to break up
Questions & Answers about Si sono lasciati senza aver litigato.
Why use the past infinitive aver litigato here instead of just litigare?
The past infinitive (aver + past participle) shows that the arguing would have happened before they broke up. Senza aver litigato translates to "without having argued." If you used the present infinitive (senza litigare), it would mean "without arguing" right at the exact moment of the breakup.
Why is the word aver missing its final -e?
Why does the first part of the sentence use sono and end in -i (Si sono lasciati)?
Lasciarsi is acting as a reciprocal verb here, meaning "to leave each other" or "to break up." In compound tenses like the passato prossimo, all reflexive and reciprocal verbs must use the auxiliary essere. Because it uses essere, the past participle lasciati must agree with the plural subject.
Why does the second verb use the auxiliary avere (aver litigato) when the first uses essere (sono lasciati)?
The choice of auxiliary depends entirely on the specific verb. Lasciarsi is reciprocal, so it requires essere. Litigare takes avere in all compound tenses (for example, you say hanno litigato for "they argued"). Therefore, its past infinitive must also be formed with avere.
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