Breakdown of Sebbene avvertiti del pericolo, abbiamo deciso di documentare il luogo.
avere
to have
il pericolo
the danger
decidere
to decide
di
to (linking a verb to a following infinitive)
sebbene
although / even though
avvertire
to warn
il luogo
the place (more formal than il posto)
documentare
to document
Questions & Answers about Sebbene avvertiti del pericolo, abbiamo deciso di documentare il luogo.
How does the grammar in sebbene avvertiti work without a conjugated verb?
This is an implicit concessive clause. You can combine concessive conjunctions like sebbene, benché, or pur directly with a past participle to make the sentence more concise. The past participle essentially functions as an adjective in this structure.
Why does avvertiti end in an -i?
In these implicit clauses, the past participle must agree in gender and number with the subject of the main clause. Since the main verb is abbiamo deciso (we decided), the implied subject is noi, making the participle masculine plural.
If I wanted to use a normal conjugated verb instead of this shorthand, what would it look like?
You would need to use the subjunctive mood, because sebbene requires it when followed by a conjugated verb. The explicit version would be Sebbene fossimo stati avvertiti del pericolo (Even though we had been warned of the danger). The implicit form with just the past participle saves you from having to juggle the past perfect subjunctive!
Why is there a di in abbiamo deciso di documentare?
As a quick refresher from earlier levels, many Italian verbs require a specific preposition before a following infinitive. The verb decidere (to decide) always takes the preposition di when it is followed by another action.
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