Question 1

Why do we use entro martedì instead of fino a martedì for 'by Tuesday'?

Accepted Answer

entro indicates a deadline ('by' or 'no later than'). You use it for a single event that needs to happen before a certain time limit, like asking for this extension. fino a means 'until' and is used for a continuous action that keeps happening up to a certain point (for example, 'we will wait until Tuesday').

Question 2

Why is it dopo aver visto (after to have seen) instead of just using a regular past tense like dopo che abbiamo visto?

Accepted Answer

When the subject is the same for both actions ('we' saw it, and 'we' must ask), Italian strongly prefers using dopo followed by an infinitive. Since the seeing happened first, we use the past infinitive: the helper verb avere (shortened here to aver for better flow) plus the past participle visto.

Question 3

The English translation says 'ask for an extension', so why is there no word for 'for' in chiedere una proroga?

Accepted Answer

The Italian verb chiedere inherently means 'to ask for' or 'to request' when you are talking about a thing or a favor. Adding a preposition like per would be incorrect here. You simply put the thing you want directly after the verb.

Question 4

What kind of extension is una proroga?

Accepted Answer

In Italian, una proroga specifically means an extension of time, a delay, or a postponement of a deadline. If you were talking about a physical extension, like an extension cord or building a new room, you would use a different word, such as una prolunga or un ampliamento.

Dopo aver visto il bilancio, dobbiamo chiedere una proroga entro martedì.

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