Breakdown of Lavoriamo insieme, purché il contratto sia valido.
essere
to be
insieme
together / together with
lavorare
to work
il contratto
the contract
Questions & Answers about Lavoriamo insieme, purché il contratto sia valido.
Why is the verb sia in the subjunctive instead of the normal present tense è?
The word purché (provided that) is a conjunction of condition. In Italian, conjunctions that express a condition or a requirement always trigger the subjunctive mood because they talk about a hypothetical situation rather than a guaranteed fact.
Could lavoriamo also mean "let's work" in this context?
Yes! The form lavoriamo is exactly the same for both the present indicative (we work) and the imperative mood (let's work). Depending on the wider context, you could definitely translate this sentence as "Let's work together, provided that the contract is valid."
Can I swap purché with a patto che in this sentence?
Absolutely. Both purché and a patto che mean "provided that" or "on the condition that". If you swap them, the sentence still means the exact same thing and still requires the subjunctive verb sia.
Why do we use the present subjunctive here instead of another tense?
The tense of the subjunctive verb usually depends on the main verb. Since the main verb lavoriamo is in the present tense, and the condition about the contract being valid applies right now or in the future, we use the present subjunctive sia.