Breakdown of Abbiamo ereditato i diari, tuttavia la verità risale a un altro secolo.
un
a / an (masculine)
avere
to have
a
to / at
la verità
the truth
altro
other, another
il secolo
the century
il diario
the diary
tuttavia
however
risalire
to go back
ereditare
to inherit
Questions & Answers about Abbiamo ereditato i diari, tuttavia la verità risale a un altro secolo.
Why use tuttavia here instead of just ma (but)?
While ma works perfectly well, tuttavia (however / nevertheless) is a slightly more formal contrastive connector. It effectively highlights the contrast between having the physical diaries now and the truth belonging to a distant past. Just like "however" in English, it often sits at the beginning of the second clause.
Could I use eppure instead of tuttavia in this sentence?
Yes, but it changes the tone. Tuttavia states a straightforward logical contrast. Eppure (and yet) carries a stronger sense of surprise or contradiction. Using eppure would imply that you expected the diaries to easily reveal the truth, and yet, surprisingly, they do not.
What verb is risale and why is it followed by a?
Why is the plural of diario spelled diari with one "i" and not two?
Why does altro come before the noun secolo?
Unlike most descriptive adjectives in Italian which follow the noun, altro (other / another) is an indefinite adjective. These almost always come before the noun they modify, mirroring the English word order: un altro secolo (another century).
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