Breakdown of Il professore ha detto che questi ruderi greci erano romani.
essere
to be
questi
these (masculine)
avere
to have
il professore
the professor
dire
to say, to tell
che
that (conjunction introducing a clause)
il rudere
the ruin (a crumbling building)
romano
Roman
greco
Greek
Questions & Answers about Il professore ha detto che questi ruderi greci erano romani.
Why is the plural of greco written as greci and not grechi?
The plural of greco is a notable exception in Italian. Generally, words ending in -co with the stress on the second-to-last syllable keep the hard "k" sound in the plural by adding an "h" (like antico becoming antichi). However, greco irregularly takes a soft "c" sound (like in "cheese") in the plural, becoming greci.
Why is the verb erano in the imperfect tense rather than the passato prossimo?
This sentence is an example of reported speech. Because the main verb ha detto establishes a past timeframe, the dependent clause must reflect that. We use the imperfect erano because the professor was describing an ongoing state or characteristic (the ruins being Roman) at that point in the past.
How do we know the gender of the noun ruderi?
Could we use diceva instead of ha detto for "The professor said"?
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