Se eu não tivesse coçado tanto a orelha, ela não teria ficado vermelha.

If I had not scratched my ear so much, it would not have turned red.

Breakdown of Se eu não tivesse coçado tanto a orelha, ela não teria ficado vermelha.

• eu: I
• não: not
• ter: to have
• se: if

Questions & Answers about Se eu não tivesse coçado tanto a orelha, ela não teria ficado vermelha.

Why is tivesse used after se here?

Because this sentence expresses an unreal past condition: something that did not happen, and a result that also did not happen.

Portuguese commonly uses this pattern:

• Se + imperfect subjunctive
• conditional (often compound conditional)

So:

• Se eu não tivesse coçado tanto a orelha... = If I hadn’t scratched my ear so much...

Here, tivesse is the imperfect subjunctive of ter, and it helps build the idea of a hypothetical past situation.

This is very similar in meaning to English:

• If I hadn’t scratched my ear so much, it wouldn’t have gotten red.

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Why does the sentence say não tivesse coçado instead of just não coçasse?