Word
Sarei andato volentieri in Francia!
Meaning
I would have gladly gone to France!
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Sarei andato volentieri in Francia!
essere
to be
in
in / made of (material)
andare
to go / to be fine / to work out
volentieri
gladly
Questions & Answers about Sarei andato volentieri in Francia!
Why do we use sarei instead of avrei here?
The main verb is andare (to go). Just like in the passato prossimo, verbs of motion take essere as their helping verb in the past conditional. We use the present conditional of essere (sarei) plus the past participle (andato) to express an unfulfilled desire or a missed opportunity in the past.
If a woman is speaking, does the sentence change?
Yes. Because the helping verb is essere, the past participle must agree with the subject's gender and number. A female speaker would change the ending to an -a, saying Sarei andata volentieri in Francia!
Where else can I place the word volentieri in this sentence?
You could also place it between the helping verb and the past participle: Sarei volentieri andato in Francia! Both positions are very common and sound completely natural in Italian.
Why do we use in for France instead of a?
In Italian, the preposition in is used before the names of countries, continents, regions, and large islands. You use a for cities, so if you had wanted to go to Paris instead, it would be Sarei andato volentieri a Parigi!