Word
Dopo che ebbero trovato la colonna, scoprirono due civiltà antiche?
Meaning
After they had found the column, did they discover two ancient civilizations?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Dopo che ebbero trovato la colonna, scoprirono due civiltà antiche?
avere
to have
due
two
trovare
to find
scoprire
to discover
Questions & Answers about Dopo che ebbero trovato la colonna, scoprirono due civiltà antiche?
Why is ebbero trovato used here instead of the standard past perfect (avevano trovato)?
Ebbero trovato is the trapassato remoto (preterite perfect). You must use it when an action happens before a main action expressed in the passato remoto (here, scoprirono), and is introduced by a time conjunction like dopo che, appena, or quando. If the main verb had been in the passato prossimo, you would have used the standard trapassato prossimo (avevano trovato).
Could I just say "dopo" instead of "dopo che"?
Not when followed by a conjugated verb. Dopo on its own is an adverb or preposition, so it must be followed by a noun or a past infinitive (like dopo aver trovato...). To link it directly to a subject and a conjugated verb (like ebbero trovato), you have to use the conjunction dopo che.
Why doesn't the noun civiltà change its ending for the plural in "due civiltà"?
What verb does scoprirono come from, and is it a regular passato remoto conjugation?