Breakdown of All'ultimo minuto, ha detto che non sarebbe venuta.
essere
to be
non
not
avere
to have
a
to / at
venire
to come
il minuto
the minute
dire
to say, to tell
che
that (conjunction introducing a clause)
ultimo
last (final)
Questions & Answers about All'ultimo minuto, ha detto che non sarebbe venuta.
Why do we use the past conditional (sarebbe venuta) instead of the present conditional for 'would come'?
When expressing a 'future in the past' (something that was going to happen after a past event), Italian uses the past conditional. Because she already spoke in the past (ha detto), her future arrival must be expressed with the past conditional (sarebbe venuta), even though English just uses 'would come'.
Why does venuta end in an -a here?
The verb venire (to come) uses essere (to be) as its helper verb in compound tenses like the past conditional. Whenever you build a tense with essere, the past participle must match the subject in gender and number. Since the person who wouldn't come is female, the participle is venuta.
Could ha detto mean 'he said'? How do we know the first subject is 'she'?
Why is it All'ultimo minuto instead of just A ultimo minuto?
In Italian, you need the definite article here, just like in English ('At the last minute'). All' is the combined form of the preposition a (at) and the article l' (the). You use l' because the word ultimo begins with a vowel.
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