Learn Italian: La questora è stata una pioniera nella polizia. - The police commissioner f. was a pioneer f. in the police.

La questora è stata una pioniera nella polizia.

The police commissioner (f.) was a pioneer (f.) in the police.

Breakdown of La questora è stata una pioniera nella polizia.

essere

to be

a / an (masculine)

in / made of (material)

la polizia

the police

Questions & Answers about La questora è stata una pioniera nella polizia.

Why is the word questora used here instead of questoressa?

The masculine form is il questore. In the past, feminine titles often used the suffix -essa (like dottoressa). However, modern Italian creates feminine versions of historically male-dominated professions by simply changing the final -e to -a. Therefore, questore becomes questora.

Is pioniera following the same rule as questora?

Exactly. The masculine noun is il pioniere. Instead of keeping the noun exactly the same for a woman, the modern approach is to change the -e to an -a to create the feminine la pioniera.

Could a female police commissioner still be called la questore?

You might still hear or read la questore (using a feminine article with the masculine noun) among people who resist these language changes. However, la questora is the officially recommended form today and is increasingly the standard in Italian media and government.

Why does the verb use stata instead of stato?

This is a quick reminder on past tense agreement! The verb essere (to be) always uses itself as the helper verb in the past tense. Because it uses essere, the past participle must agree with the feminine subject la questora, changing from stato to stata.