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Quando è suonata la campana, ci si è preparati subito per la preghiera.

Quando è suonata la campana, ci si è preparati subito per la preghiera.
When the bell rang, one got ready immediately for the prayer.
From Lesson 380:Impersonal 'ci si' in the past (ci si è + plural)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Quando è suonata la campana, ci si è preparati subito per la preghiera.

Why does preparati end in -i (plural) when the translation is "one got ready" (singular)?
This is a strict rule for this specific structure! Whenever you combine the impersonal si ("one" or "people in general") with a reflexive verb to get ci si, the past participle must take the masculine plural ending -i. So, ci si è preparati is the standard form, even though "one" feels singular in English.
Wait, if the participle is plural (preparati), why is the auxiliary verb singular (è)?
The impersonal pronoun always requires a third-person singular verb, which is why the auxiliary is è. However, the past participle in a ci si construction breaks the usual rules and jumps to the plural -i. You just have to memorize this specific mismatch: singular auxiliary + plural past participle.
Why do we use ci si instead of just si?
The verb here is prepararsi (to get oneself ready), which is reflexive. If we want to make it impersonal ("one gets ready"), we need the impersonal si plus the reflexive si. Because saying si si sounds awkward, Italian always changes the first one to ci, giving us ci si.
Why does suonare use essere (è suonata) in the first half of the sentence? I thought it took avere.
Suonare can take either auxiliary depending on how it is used. When someone actively rings a bell, it has a direct object (transitive) and takes avere (e.g., Ha suonato la campana - "He rang the bell"). But here, the bell is ringing on its own (intransitive). Therefore, it takes essere, and the past participle agrees with the feminine singular subject (la campana), becoming suonata.

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