Breakdown of Ci sono volute due ore per aiutarlo, come se fosse rimasto impietrito.
essere
to be
due
two
per
for / in order to / because of
l'ora
the hour (f)
aiutare
to help
se
if
lo
him/it (direct object)
come
as (in comparisons)
volerci
to take (time, impersonal)
rimanere
to remain, to stay behind
impietrito
petrified
Questions & Answers about Ci sono volute due ore per aiutarlo, come se fosse rimasto impietrito.
Why is it sono volute instead of ci ha voluto or ci è voluto?
The verb here is volerci (to take time or effort). In compound tenses, volerci takes the auxiliary essere. Because it uses essere, the past participle must agree with the grammatical subject. In this sentence, the subject is actually the time taken: due ore (two hours), which is feminine plural. That's why the verb becomes ci sono volute.
Why do we use the pluperfect subjunctive (fosse rimasto) after come se here?
Come se (as if) always triggers the subjunctive to introduce a hypothetical comparison. To describe an unreal event that happened in the past, or an unreal state that existed at the time of the main past action, we use the pluperfect subjunctive. If you were describing a hypothetical situation happening right now in the present, you would use the imperfect subjunctive instead.
Why does rimasto take fosse (from essere) as its helper verb rather than a form of avere?
Why is there a per before aiutarlo?
In English, we just use the infinitive: it took two hours 'to' help him. In Italian, when using verbs like volerci to talk about the time needed to complete an action, you must use the preposition per (in order to) before the infinitive to express what the time was used for.
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