Question 1

Why is it sei fatta with the auxiliary verb essere instead of avere?

Accepted Answer

The verb fare normally uses avere in the past tense (hai fatto). However, when you use it in the reflexive causative construction (farsi mettere, meaning "to get something put on yourself"), the reflexive pronoun ti forces the auxiliary verb to switch to essere.

Question 2

Why does fatta end in -a?

Accepted Answer

Because this sentence uses the auxiliary verb essere (Ti sei), the past participle must agree with the subject's gender and number. The -a ending on fatta shows that the person being spoken to ("you") is female. If speaking to a male, it would be Ti sei fatto mettere.

Question 3

Why is mettere left in the infinitive?

Accepted Answer

In Italian causative constructions, the conjugated verb (fare) is always followed directly by an infinitive verb (here, mettere). You only conjugate the first verb. Literally, it's like saying "Did you make yourself to put the nail polish...".

Question 4

Why does the sentence use mettere to mean "painted"?

Accepted Answer

In Italian, you don't usually use the literal verb for "to paint" (dipingere) when talking about nails. Smalto means "nail polish," and Italian uses mettere (to put) for applying most cosmetics. You are literally saying "to put on nail polish."

Question 5

Why is the preposition da used in dall'estetista?

Accepted Answer

In a causative sentence where you are having someone else do a task for you, the person actually doing the work (the agent) is introduced by the preposition da (by). This works similarly to the passive voice in English ("by the beautician"). Here, da merges with the article l' to make dall'.

Ti sei fatta mettere lo smalto dall'estetista?

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