Ne era valsa la pena aspettare.

Sentence Discussions Italian
#1
English Original Sentence

That was well worth the wait.

Am I right in thinking that ne è valsa is more common than ne era valsa?

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#2

“Ne è valsa la pena” and “ne era valsa la pena” have a different meaning:

In the first case, you waited, and are now finding the wait a good deal;
in the latter, you found the wait was worth it at some time in the past.

Same difference as “is worth it” and “was worth it”.

Edit: but I realize that in English “was worth it” actually means the wait is a good deal now, not in the past.

So maybe “was worth it” and “had been worth it” is a better match to the Italian versions.

Edit2: Actually, I now realize the English translation does not really specify if the wait was worth now or in the past, right? It could be used to translate both “è valsa” and “era valsa”. Something has been lost in translation.

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#3

I’m wondering, how does Ne valeva la pena fit in in all this?

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#4

It’s a middle ground between to “ne è valsa la pena” and “ne era valsa la pena”, it’s a bit more indefinite with regard of the timing but I would interpret it more likely like the first without further context.

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