Se l’aglio fosse troppo forte, userei solo metà dello spicchio.

If the garlic were too strong, I would use only half of the clove.

Breakdown of Se l’aglio fosse troppo forte, userei solo metà dello spicchio.

• io: I
• essere: to be
• di: of
• usare: to use
• se: if
• troppo: too
• solo: only
• forte: strong
• l’aglio: the garlic
• la metà: the half
• lo spicchio: the clove

Questions & Answers about Se l’aglio fosse troppo forte, userei solo metà dello spicchio.

Why is fosse used instead of è?

In Italian, when you express an unreal or hypothetical condition in the present, you use the imperfect subjunctive after se.

• fosse is the imperfect subjunctive of essere, signalling “if the garlic were…”
• è is the present indicative and would state a real fact (“if the garlic is…”), not a hypothetical situation.

Why is userei used instead of uso?

Because in the result clause of a hypothetical “if” sentence, Italian uses the present conditional to show what would happen.

• userei = “I would use”
• uso = “I use” (simple present, for real actions or habits)

What pattern does this “if” sentence follow in Italian?

This is the standard second conditional (irrealis) in Italian:

1. Se + imperfect subjunctive (e.g. se l’aglio fosse…)
2. Main clause with present conditional (e.g. userei…)

How do you form the imperfect subjunctive of essere like fosse?

You start from the infinitive essere, drop -re, and add these endings:
fossi, fossi, fosse, fossimo, foste, fossero
Here fosse is the third-person singular, matching l’aglio.

Why is there no che after se in this sentence?

In Italian conditional clauses, se already functions as the conjunction “if.” You never add che after se, so Se che l’aglio fosse would be ungrammatical.

Why is it l’aglio and not il aglio?

Italian elides the vowel of il before another vowel.

• il aglio → l’
  • aglio = l’aglio
    The apostrophe marks that elision.

Why is it dello spicchio instead of del spicchio?

Spicchio is a masculine singular noun starting with s+consonant, so its definite article is lo.

• di + lo contracts to dello
• del = di + il, but il is not used before spicchio

Could I say mezzo spicchio instead of metà dello spicchio?

Yes. Both mean “half a clove.”

• metà dello spicchio uses the noun metà plus the partitive
• mezzo spicchio uses the adjective mezzo (which agrees in gender/number if needed)
  The nuance is minor; metà dello spicchio emphasises “half of that specific clove,” while mezzo spicchio is a more direct adjective + noun.

What does solo add to the sentence?

Solo means “only” and restricts the quantity. Here it emphasises that you would use nothing beyond half a clove. Without solo, the sentence still makes sense, but solo adds that extra shade of “just half.”