Learn Italian: La seta e il velluto andrebbero bene insieme. - Silk and velvet would go well together.

La seta e il velluto andrebbero bene insieme.

Silk and velvet would go well together.

Breakdown of La seta e il velluto andrebbero bene insieme.

and

insieme

together / together with

bene

well

andare

to go / to be fine / to work out

Questions & Answers about La seta e il velluto andrebbero bene insieme.

How do we form the conditional of andare in this sentence?

Andare (to go) is an irregular verb. Instead of keeping its regular stem, it drops a vowel to become andr-. Then, we add the standard conditional endings.

Why does andrebbero end in -ebbero?

The ending -ebbero is the standard present conditional suffix for the loro (they) form. Since our subject is plural (both la seta and il velluto), we combine the irregular stem andr- with -ebbero to get andrebbero (they would go).

Does andare bene translate exactly to "go well"?

Yes! Just like in English, andare bene means "to go well", but Italians also use it frequently to mean "to be okay", "to fit", or "to be a good match". Here, saying the fabrics andrebbero bene insieme means they would pair perfectly.

Why do we say La seta and il velluto if the English sentence doesn't use "the"?

In Italian, you almost always need definite articles (il, la, etc.) when talking about general categories, concepts, or materials. While English just says "silk", Italian requires la seta (the silk).