Breakdown of È tornato a battere il suo record.
il record
the record (achievement)
battere
to beat, to hit
Questions & Answers about È tornato a battere il suo record.
Why does this sentence use tornato a battere instead of ha battuto di nuovo?
The structure tornare a + infinitive is a common and elegant way to express doing an action again. While ha battuto di nuovo or ha battuto ancora are completely correct, using tornare a (literally 'to return to doing') is a very native-sounding periphrasis that emphasizes the repetition of the event.
Why is the auxiliary verb essere (è tornato) when the action being performed is battere, which normally takes avere?
In this specific structure, the auxiliary verb is strictly dictated by the conjugated verb tornare, not the infinitive that follows it. Because tornare is a verb of motion that always takes essere, you must use essere here, even though battere il record on its own would take avere (ha battuto il record).
Because the auxiliary is essere, does the ending of tornato change depending on who the subject is?
Could this sentence also literally mean 'He returned in order to beat his record'?
Yes, depending on the context, it could literally mean he physically went back to a location to beat his record. However, Italians use this phrase so frequently to simply mean 'doing something again' that you should assume the figurative, repetitive meaning unless the surrounding context makes a physical return obvious.
Learn È tornato a battere il suo record and more in Italian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free