#grammatica
Duolingo sentences:
Quando i due si erano conosciuti era stato amore a prima vista
When the two had met it had been love at first sight
Vocabulary of note:
Conoscersi—>si erano conosciuti
• conoscersi is a reciprocal verb so you need to keep the reflexive pronoun si
Tense:
• era stato amore is trapassato prossimo hence it is translated as “it had been” instead of “it was”
“Avevo paura di stare da solo. Ora ho paura di avere le persone sbagliate al mio fianco.”— Yukio Mishima
Grammar Breakdown:
Avevo - I used to have (lit.)
in this case the expression “avere paura”, to be afraid, is in the indicative imperfect. Indicative imperfect can be thought of as a type of past tense, to use for things that perhaps used to happen for a period of time.
- “I used to be afraid of being alone”
Ho paura di avere.. - I am afraid of having…
Again using the expression “avere paura di xyz”, to have fear of/to be afraid of xyz. This time, it is in the present sense, using “ho” for “I have”.
The formula verb + preposition + infinitive is common in Italian, and it’s important to know which prepositions (di/a/etc) go with which verbs. Useful website here.
Al mio fianco - at my side (lit.)
Although I have translated the expression literally, it would be better in English to translate it as “by my side”
Le persone sbagliate - the wrong people
Notice that these words are all in the feminine plural by the e at the end. The plural of persona is persone, hence le is the definite article, and the adjective (sbagliate) also needs to agree.
- “Now I am afraid of having the wrong people by my side”
