Question 1

Why does this sentence use è instead of ha in si è faticato?

Accepted Answer

The verb faticare (to toil or work hard) normally takes avere in compound tenses (for example, lui ha faticato). However, when you use the impersonal si (meaning "one" or "people"), the auxiliary verb always shifts to essere. Therefore, it must be si è faticato.

Question 2

Since the auxiliary shifted to essere, why doesn't the past participle become plural (si è faticati)?

Accepted Answer

With the impersonal si, the past participle's ending depends on the verb's normal auxiliary. Because faticare normally takes avere, its past participle remains in the default masculine singular form (faticato). It only changes to the plural masculine (-i) for verbs that normally take essere, such as andare (si è andati).

Question 3

Why is diceva in the imperfect tense rather than the passato prossimo (ha detto)?

Accepted Answer

Using the imperfect diceva implies that this was something the grandfather said repeatedly over time, describing a habit or a recurring action in the past ("he used to say"). If the sentence used ha detto, it would mean he said it just once on a specific, finished occasion.

Question 4

Why is there no article before Mio nonno? Shouldn't it be Il mio nonno?

Accepted Answer

This is a great place to recall an earlier rule: in Italian, you always drop the definite article (il or la) before singular, unmodified family members with a possessive adjective. Therefore, it is just mio nonno. If the family member were plural, the article would return (i miei nonni).

Mio nonno diceva che si è faticato molto in questo mestiere.

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