Learn Italian: In ogni bottega si è imparato il mestiere da un artigiano. - In every workshop, people learned the trade from an artisan.

In ogni bottega si è imparato il mestiere da un artigiano.

In every workshop, people learned the trade from an artisan.

Breakdown of In ogni bottega si è imparato il mestiere da un artigiano.

essere

to be

a / an (masculine)

in / made of (material)

from, at (someone's place) / by (oneself), on one's own

Questions & Answers about In ogni bottega si è imparato il mestiere da un artigiano.

Why does this sentence use è instead of ha for the past tense of imparare?

The verb imparare normally takes avere as its helping verb, like in lui ha imparato (he learned). However, whenever you use the impersonal si to mean "people" or "one", the helping verb must always switch to essere, which is why we get si è imparato.

Does the ending of imparato have to agree with anything here?

Yes, it agrees with il mestiere. When the impersonal si is used with a direct object, the sentence works like a passive voice. Because il mestiere is a masculine singular noun, the past participle is imparato. If the object were plural, both the verb and participle would change to match it, as in si sono imparati i mestieri.

Why is bottega singular if it means "every workshop"?

The word ogni means "each" or "every". Just like in English, it must always be followed by a singular noun, so we use bottega instead of the plural botteghe.

Is da always used when learning "from" someone?