Should this sentence say "aiutato" instead of "aiutati" ?
I am reading a book where a man and a woman are talking to another man about his daughter. The daughter once helped with an investigation, so the man says to the father "Una volta ci ha aiutati in un'inchiesta."

If aiutare is conjugated with avere, then the ending of past participle should not need to change for any reason, right? Shouldn't this say "Una volta ci ha aiutato in un'inchiesta" ?

Is this a typo in the book, or is there something that I am not understanding correctly?

Thanks.

Question

Should this sentence say "aiutato" instead of "aiutati" ?
I am reading a book where a man and a woman are talking to another man about his daughter.  The daughter once helped with an investigation, so the man says to the father "Una volta ci ha aiutati in un'inchiesta."

If aiutare is conjugated with avere, then the ending of past participle should not need to change for any reason, right?  Shouldn't this say "Una volta ci ha aiutato in un'inchiesta" ?

Is this a typo in the book, or is there something that I am not understanding correctly?

Thanks.

Answer

WITH “AVERE” AS AUXILIARY VERB you normally don’t conjugate the past participle. E.g:
Luca ha letto un libro;
Luca ha letto due libri;
Marta ha letto un libro;
Marta ha letto una storia;
Marta e Luca hanno letto due storie;
Marta e Giulia hanno letto due libri.

---> !!! EXCEPTIONS WITH “AVERE” AS AUXILIARY VERB
In compound tenses, if the auxiliary is “avere”, you can choose to conjugate the past participle or not IF IT REFERS TO A DIRECT OBECT PRONOUNS “MI, TI, CI, VI”. Both forms are correct. E.g:
"Una volta CI ha aiutati in un'inchiesta" but also  "Una volta CI ha aiutato in un'inchiesta" > Una volta ha aiutato NOI (CI = DIRECT OBJECT > it answers the question « Chi ? Che cosa?”);
“Ieri vi ho chiamati”, but also “Ieri vi ho chiamato” > Ieri ho chiamato VOI (VI = direct object)
!! It is COMPULSORY to conjugate the past participle with the auxiliary is “avere” when it refers to A DIRECT OBJECT PRONOUN “LO, LA, LI, LE”. E.g:
Una volta LE ho vistE > Una volta ho visto LORO (LE = direct object pronoun > answers the question "Chi? Che cosa?);
Ieri LI ho chiamatI;
Maria LI ha lettI;
Maria e Luca LI hanno lettI.

!! DO NOT conjugate the past participle if it refers to an INDIRECT OBJECT PRONOUN. E.g:
Maria LE ha dettO di non leggere il libro > Maria ha detto A LEI = In this case "LE" is not a direct object pronoun, so YOU DO NOT CONJUGATE the past participle!
Marco LE ha mandatO una lettera > Marco ha mandato A LEI (indirect pronoun).

Spero di essere stata d'aiuto ;)

Answers · 2

Still haven’t found your answers?

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn a language from the comfort of your own home. Browse our selection of experienced language tutors and enroll in your first lesson now!