lavare verb

Ciao :)

In lesson 6.5 the lavare verb was conjugated to:

"...............Li ho appena lavati"

Could I be explained further how it becomes lavati and not lavato for the past tense.

If i am to guess correctly, and usually I am wrong, I am under the belief that because they / them fall under the plural loro which we use the pronoun masculine "Li" to avoid repetition, you have replaced the past tense of lavato to lavati to agree with the actions, contents and it's genders?

Grazie mille.

 

Buonasera rigoletto,

You're actually right. Adjectives must always agree with the gender and the number of the element they modify.

You can say:
Ho appena lavato il cane. L'ho [lo ho] appena lavato. I've just washed the dog. I've just washed it.
Ho appena lavato la macchina. L'ho [la ho] appena lavata. I've just washed the car. I've just washed it.

Il cane is masculine, so the adjective takes its masculine, singular form: lavato.
La macchina is feminine, and the adjective complies with its feminine form: lavata.

The same applies to plural nouns:
I cani vengono lavati. The dogs are being washed.
Le macchine vengono lavate. The cars are being washed.

Hope this helps! :)

Lucia

Grazie Lucia 


In your last example, with "vengono" used is this from venire verb, to come? how is this being applied to "being" washed, could you please help explain here a little.

Grazie

Prego, rigoletto! :)

Yes, vengono is a conjugation of venire. In Italian, other than its normal usage, venire is used to build the passive form, which is used in the last examples.
You can find a nice explanation of it in lesson 21.6, "The Passive Tense". This tense can be a little though, so this is why it's not explained until the late modules in the course.

Sounds great Lucia, thanks, grazie mille :)