Breakdown of La decisione deve essere confermata da parte del portavoce.
essere
to be
dovere
must
la decisione
the decision
confermare
to confirm
da parte di
by (institutional or formal agent)
il portavoce
the spokesperson
Questions & Answers about La decisione deve essere confermata da parte del portavoce.
Why use da parte del portavoce instead of just dal portavoce?
Why does confermata end in -a if there is a modal verb (deve) before it?
In the passive voice, the past participle always agrees with the subject in gender and number, regardless of whether a modal verb is used. Since the subject la decisione is feminine singular, the participle must be confermata.
How does the word portavoce work, and what is its plural form?
Portavoce is a compound noun made of a verb (porta, meaning carries) and a noun (voce, meaning voice). Nouns formed this way referring to people keep the same ending in both singular and plural forms. Its gender matches the person it refers to. Here, the article del shows this is a male spokesperson. In the plural, you only change the article: i portavoce or le portavoce.
Could we use venire to form this passive sentence, like deve venire confermata?
No. While you can often swap essere for venire to form the passive voice (for example, la decisione viene confermata), you cannot use venire when there is a modal verb like dovere, potere, or volere. With modals, the passive auxiliary must always be essere.
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