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Siamo partiti subito, altrimenti avremmo perso la coincidenza.

Siamo partiti subito, altrimenti avremmo perso la coincidenza.
We left immediately, otherwise we would have missed the connection.
From Lesson 192:The past conditional (avrei fatto, sarei andato)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Siamo partiti subito, altrimenti avremmo perso la coincidenza.

Why do we use the past conditional (avremmo perso) in this sentence?
The past conditional is used to talk about things that would have happened in the past but didn't. Because they left immediately, they didn't actually miss the connection. It is formed here by combining the present conditional of avere (avremmo, meaning we would have) with the irregular past participle of perdere (perso).
Why does partiti end in -i and use siamo instead of abbiamo?
Partire (to leave) is a verb of motion, which means it requires essere as its helper verb for past tenses. Whenever you use essere, the past participle has to agree with the subject in gender and number. Since the subject is we, the ending changes to the plural -i (siamo partiti).
Does coincidenza mean coincidence like it does in English?
It can mean coincidence in other contexts, but when talking about travel and transportation, la coincidenza means a connection (like a connecting train, bus, or flight).
How does altrimenti work with the past conditional here?
Altrimenti means otherwise. It sets up the condition for the second part of the sentence, acting as a shortcut for if we had not done that. It perfectly triggers the past conditional (avremmo perso) to show the hypothetical consequence that was successfully avoided.

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