Learn Italian: Mi sono fatta stringere alcune gonne dal sarto. - I had some skirts taken in by the tailor.

Mi sono fatta stringere alcune gonne dal sarto.

I had some skirts taken in by the tailor.

Breakdown of Mi sono fatta stringere alcune gonne dal sarto.

alcuno

some / a few (alcuni, alcune)

by (agent of a passive verb)

Questions & Answers about Mi sono fatta stringere alcune gonne dal sarto.

Why does this sentence use sono instead of ho with the verb fare?

The normal verb fare takes avere, but here we are using its reflexive form farsi to mean 'to have something done for oneself'. Since all reflexive verbs use essere in past tenses like the passato prossimo, the auxiliary shifts from ho to mi sono.

Why is the past participle fatta instead of fatto?

Because we are using the auxiliary essere, the past participle agrees with the subject. The -a ending in fatta tells us that the speaker is a woman. If a man were speaking, he would say mi sono fatto stringere.

I see stringere means 'to tighten'. Is that the normal way to say clothes are 'taken in'?

Yes! While English uses the phrasal verb 'taken in', Italian simply uses stringere (to tighten) for clothes that are too big. If you needed to have them let out or widened, you would use allargare.

Why is the tailor introduced with dal?