Se la mia coinquilina avesse meno riunioni, non dovrebbe mai disdire la cena del venerdì.

Because this sentence is talking about a hypothetical, unreal, or unlikely situation.

In Italian, that pattern is usually:

• se + imperfect subjunctive
• conditional in the main clause

So here:

• Se la mia coinquilina avesse meno riunioni = if my roommate had fewer meetings
• non dovrebbe mai disdire... = she would never have to cancel...

Avesse is the imperfetto congiuntivo of avere.

This is the normal structure for a present/future hypothetical in Italian, similar to the English second conditional:

• If she had fewer meetings, she would...

A very common learner mistake is using the conditional after se, like se avrebbe. Standard Italian does not do that here.

Dovrebbe is the conditional of dovere.

It is used because the result depends on the hypothetical if-clause:

• If she had fewer meetings, she would not have to...

Compare:

• deve = she has to / must
• dovrebbe = she would have to / should

In this sentence, dovrebbe means would have to, not just should.

So:

• non dovrebbe mai disdire = she would never have to cancel

Yes, very close.

English:

• If my roommate had fewer meetings, she would never have to cancel Friday dinner.

Italian:

• Se la mia coinquilina avesse meno riunioni, non dovrebbe mai disdire la cena del venerdì.

The main difference is grammatical form:

• English often uses a past form in the if-clause: if she had
• Italian uses the imperfect subjunctive: se avesse

So functionally, yes: this is the Italian equivalent of the English second conditional.

Non... mai means never.

So:

• non dovrebbe mai disdire = she would never have to cancel

Italian often uses non together with words like:

• mai = never
• niente = nothing
• nessuno = nobody / no one

This is normal Italian grammar, not an incorrect “double negative” like in standard English.

Examples:

• Non mangio mai carne. = I never eat meat.
• Non vedo nessuno. = I don’t see anyone.

Disdire means to cancel, especially in the sense of canceling something that had been arranged, booked, or scheduled.

It is often used for:

• appointments
• reservations
• plans
• subscriptions
• meetings

So here, disdire la cena means to cancel the dinner arrangement.

Compared with similar verbs:

• disdire = cancel something scheduled or agreed
• cancellare = cancel / delete / erase; broader and very common
• annullare = cancel / annul; often more formal or official

In this sentence, disdire sounds quite natural because the dinner is a planned event.

La cena del venerdì means something like:

• the Friday dinner
• Friday dinner
• possibly the regular dinner on Friday

The article la makes it sound like a specific, known dinner, not just dinner in general.

And del venerdì literally means of Friday, but in natural English it usually corresponds to:

• Friday’s dinner
• the Friday dinner
• dinner on Friday

This often suggests a habitual or recurring event, especially if context supports that idea.

Good question. They can be similar, but the nuance is different.

• di venerdì often means on Fridays / on a Friday basis / every Friday
• del venerdì often points to the Friday one, a more specific or identifiable Friday event

So:

• ceno di venerdì = I have dinner on Fridays
• la cena del venerdì = the Friday dinner / the dinner for Friday / the usual Friday dinner

In your sentence, la cena del venerdì sounds like a specific recurring dinner that both speaker and listener know about.

Because meno is being used as a quantity word: fewer meetings.

In Italian, after words like:

• meno = fewer / less
• più = more
• molte = many
• poche = few

you often do not need an article before the noun.

So:

• meno riunioni = fewer meetings

If you added an article, the meaning or structure would change.

Compare:

• ha meno riunioni = she has fewer meetings
• ha le riunioni = she has the meetings

Yes.

• coinquilina = female roommate / female flatmate
• coinquilino = male roommate / male flatmate

Since Italian nouns usually mark gender, the sentence tells you the roommate is female.

Also note:

• mia coinquilina = my female roommate
• il mio coinquilino = my male roommate

Here mai comes between the conjugated modal verb and the infinitive:

• non dovrebbe mai disdire

This is a very natural position in Italian.

Breakdown:

• non negates the verb
• dovrebbe = would have to
• mai = ever / never, depending on negation
• disdire = cancel

Without non, mai can sometimes mean ever:

• Dovrebbe mai disdire? = Would she ever cancel?

With non, it means never:

• Non dovrebbe mai disdire. = She would never have to cancel.

Yes, that is grammatically correct, but it means something slightly different.

• non dovrebbe mai disdire = she would never have to cancel
• non disdirebbe mai = she would never cancel

So the original sentence focuses on necessity:

• fewer meetings would mean she would not be forced to cancel

Your alternative focuses more directly on the action itself:

• she would never cancel

Both are possible, but they are not exactly the same in nuance.