Breakdown of Gli studenti ascoltarono il musicista suonare in piazza.
lo studente
the student
in
in / made of (material)
la piazza
the square
ascoltare
to listen / to listen to
suonare
to play (an instrument)
il musicista
musician
Questions & Answers about Gli studenti ascoltarono il musicista suonare in piazza.
Why is suonare in the infinitive when the English translation says playing?
In Italian, when you use a verb of perception like ascoltare (to listen), sentire (to hear), or vedere (to see) and want to describe an ongoing action, you use the present infinitive for the second verb. So, listened to the musician playing becomes ascoltarono il musicista suonare (literally listened to the musician to play).
Why is the article il used with musicista? Doesn't the -a ending make it feminine?
Words ending in -ista that refer to professions or roles (like musicista, dentista, or turista) have the exact same ending for both masculine and feminine in the singular. Because this specific musician is male, it takes the masculine article il. If the musician were female, it would be la musicista.
What tense is ascoltarono? It looks different from the regular past tense we usually use.
It is the passato remoto (historical past) of ascoltare. While you might be more used to the passato prossimo like hanno ascoltato, the passato remoto is commonly used in written Italian, literature, and storytelling to describe completed actions in the past.
Why is it just in piazza instead of nella piazza for in the square?
Certain common public locations in Italian take the preposition in without a definite article. In piazza (in the square), in banca (at the bank), and in chiesa (at church) are standard set phrases that do not use the article unless you are describing a specific, modified square (like nella piazza principale).
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