La sindaca non se l'è presa con la ministra.
The mayor (f.) didn't take offense at the minister (f.).
Breakdown of La sindaca non se l'è presa con la ministra.
essere
to be
non
not
con
with
prendersela
to take offense
il sindaco
the mayor
la ministra
the female minister
Questions & Answers about La sindaca non se l'è presa con la ministra.
I learned before that professions like "mayor" and "minister" just stay masculine even for women. Why do we see la sindaca and la ministra here?
Historically, titles like il sindaco and il ministro were used for both men and women (often as la sindaco or just using the masculine article). However, modern Italian strongly prefers fully feminized forms. Modifying the ending to create la sindaca and la ministra is now standard and highly recommended, though you might still occasionally encounter the older masculine forms in highly traditional contexts.
What exactly is going on with the verb phrase se l'è presa?
This comes from the pronominal verb prendersela, an idiom that means "to take offense" or "to get angry." It's built from prendere (to take) + si (reflexive pronoun) + la (a fixed object pronoun). In the perfect tense (passato prossimo), the si changes to se because it's followed by another pronoun (la). Then, the la drops its vowel before è, giving us se l'è presa.
Does the ending of presa match the feminine subject la sindaca? What if the subject were a man?
It actually does not agree with the subject, and it remains presa even if the subject is masculine! In the verb prendersela, the past participle must agree with the direct object pronoun. Because the fixed pronoun in this idiom is the feminine la, the past participle will always be presa (e.g., Il sindaco non se l'è presa = The male mayor didn't take offense).
Why is the preposition con used instead of a literal translation for "at"?
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