Learn Italian: Il mestiere dell'artigiano era difficile, ma si è lavorato con amore. - The artisan's craft was difficult, but people worked with love.

Il mestiere dell'artigiano era difficile, ma si è lavorato con amore.

The artisan's craft was difficult, but people worked with love.

Breakdown of Il mestiere dell'artigiano era difficile, ma si è lavorato con amore.

Questions & Answers about Il mestiere dell'artigiano era difficile, ma si è lavorato con amore.

Why is it si è lavorato using essere, when the verb lavorare normally takes avere?

This is the core rule of the impersonal si in compound tenses! Even though a specific person would say ho lavorato (I have worked), whenever you use the impersonal si to mean one, people, or we in general, the auxiliary verb automatically shifts to essere. Therefore, it becomes si è lavorato.

Since we are using essere as the helper verb, why does the past participle end in -o instead of a plural ending like -i?

When using the impersonal si with a verb that normally takes avere (like lavorare), the past participle stays in its default masculine singular form, ending in -o. It would only change to a plural ending if the sentence had a plural direct object, or if the verb normally took essere in its active form.

Why does the first half of the sentence use the imperfect tense (era) but the second half uses the passato prossimo (è lavorato)?

The imperfect era difficile sets the scene and describes a continuous past state (the craft was inherently difficult). The passato prossimo si è lavorato emphasizes the actual labor as a completed fact. Mixing these two tenses is very common when establishing a background state and stating what actually happened.