Breakdown of Avrei preso la coincidenza, ma l'aereo è arrivato in ritardo.
essere
to be
ma
but
avere
to have
in
in / made of (material)
prendere
to take
arrivare
to arrive
l'aereo
the airplane
la coincidenza
the connection (transportation)
in ritardo
late (not on time), delayed
Questions & Answers about Avrei preso la coincidenza, ma l'aereo è arrivato in ritardo.
How do we form the past conditional in avrei preso, and what does it express here?
It expresses a missed opportunity in the past—something you intended to do, but didn't happen. You form the past conditional just like the passato prossimo, but instead of the present tense auxiliary, you use the present conditional auxiliary. Here, we use avrei (I would have) plus the past participle of prendere, which is the irregular preso.
Is coincidenza a false friend? Does it mean "coincidence"?
Why does the second half of the sentence use è arrivato instead of ha arrivato?
Why do we say in ritardo for "late"? Can I just use tardi?
In ritardo specifically means "delayed" or "behind schedule". While tardi means "late" in a general time sense (like late in the day), arrivare in ritardo is the necessary set phrase when a person or a vehicle misses its scheduled arrival time.
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