Breakdown of La situazione è diventata insostenibile, quindi mi sono dovuto sfogare.
essere
to be
dovere
must
diventare
to become
la situazione
the situation
quindi
therefore / so
insostenibile
unbearable (unsustainable)
sfogarsi
to vent
Questions & Answers about La situazione è diventata insostenibile, quindi mi sono dovuto sfogare.
Why do we use sono with dovuto here? Doesn't dovere usually take avere?
Normally, yes! But here it is followed by the reflexive verb sfogarsi (to vent). When you place the reflexive pronoun (mi) before the conjugated modal verb, it forces the auxiliary to become essere (mi sono dovuto sfogare). If you attached the pronoun to the end of the infinitive instead, you would stick with avere (ho dovuto sfogarmi).
If a woman were saying this sentence, would dovuto change?
Yes, it would become dovuta. Because the auxiliary shifted to essere, the past participle (dovuto) must agree with the subject in gender and number. A female speaker would say mi sono dovuta sfogare.
Why is it è diventata rather than ha diventato?
Is sfogare always a reflexive verb?
Not always. You can use it non-reflexively with a direct object to mean letting out a specific emotion, like sfogare la rabbia (to vent anger). But when you mean unburdening yourself or letting off steam in a general sense, you use the reflexive sfogarsi.
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