English Translation
The hunter shot a bear.
How would one make clear that the hunter shot the bear dead? Ha abbattuto un orso?
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Good questionâŚ
âHa abbattuto un orsoâ could work. âAbbattereâ means to kill an animal, to slaughter an animal.
Otherwise:
ââŚha sparato a un orso e lo ha uccisoâ or âha ucciso un orso con un colpo di fucileâ.
Or you chose if it is more important the shooting part or the killing part.
âIl cacciatore ha ucciso un orsoâ leaves out that he shot at it first, but, well, he is a hunterâŚ
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Sorry, but I still do not understand it completely.
I came across a similar sentence:
âGli hanno sparato ieriâ = âThey shot him yesterdayâ
Does it mean that the translation âThey shot at him yesterdayâ is also valid?
There are three cases : Shoot and kill, shoot and hit, shoot and miss.
âThey shot him yesterdayâ is only case one, isnât it?"
They shot at him yesterday" is case two or three.
âGli hanno sparato ieriâ is case one or two? Or all three?
Maybe my problems arise from the fact that we have three different constructions in German (nothing to be proud of 
)
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âGli hanno sparatoâ does not in itself imply any result. So it can be used for all three of the listed meanings. but I think even âshoot at someoneâ does not state the result of the shooting.
If the effect of the shooting is not clear from the context, I guess I would start by stating the effect, and then specify the weapon:
âĂ stato ammazzato a colpi di pistolaâ or âè stato ferito con unâarma da fuocoâ.
Or âGli hanno sparato, ma ne è uscito illesoâ (they shot hat him but he was unharmed) in case the target was missed.
Here someone asked about the transitive use of âsparareâ:
It is noted that in some regions due to local language influences, it is used as in sense one above, but that it is not considered grammatical correct. So, you shouldnât see that in official news sources, or by a large part of the Italian population
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