Breakdown of Ci è stato suggerito di presentare ricorso da parte del giudice.
essere
to be
ci
to us
presentare
to present, to submit
di
to (linking a verb to a following infinitive)
Questions & Answers about Ci è stato suggerito di presentare ricorso da parte del giudice.
Why is the verb singular (è stato) when the English translation says 'We were'?
In English, 'we' is the subject. But in Italian, suggerire takes an indirect object (suggerire a qualcuno). When you make it passive, it becomes an impersonal construction meaning 'It was suggested to us.' So, the verb takes the third-person singular è stato suggerito, and the indirect object pronoun ci represents 'to us.'
Since ci refers to a plural 'us', why doesn't the past participle end in -i (suggeriti)?
Past participles in passive sentences only agree with the subject. Here, the subject is an impersonal 'it'. Because ci is an indirect object (answering 'to whom?'), it never triggers past participle agreement, so the participle stays in the default masculine singular form suggerito.
Why do we need the preposition di before presentare?
When the verb suggerire is followed by another action, it requires the preposition di plus an infinitive verb. The set structure is suggerire a qualcuno di fare qualcosa (to suggest to someone to do something).
Could we just say dal giudice to mean 'by the judge' instead of da parte del giudice?