Breakdown of E se vivessimo in un'epoca diversa?
una
a / an (feminine)
e
and
in
in / made of (material)
se
if
diverso
different
vivere
to live (life), to be alive
l'epoca
the era (f)
Questions & Answers about E se vivessimo in un'epoca diversa?
Why do we use the imperfect subjunctive verb vivessimo in this sentence?
The phrase E se (What if) introduces a hypothetical or imaginary situation. In Italian, when you talk about unlikely or imaginary present scenarios starting with se (if), you must use the imperfect subjunctive.
How is the noi (we) form of the imperfect subjunctive built for a regular -ere verb like vivere?
You take the infinitive vivere, drop the final -re, and add the imperfect subjunctive endings. For the noi form, you add -ssimo, giving us vivessimo. A handy trick: the -ssimo ending is exactly the same for regular -are, -ere, and -ire verbs!
Besides asking "What if?", how else can we use E se with the imperfect subjunctive in everyday Italian?
Why is there an apostrophe in un'epoca?
Epoca is a feminine noun that starts with a vowel. The feminine indefinite article una drops its final letter and replaces it with an apostrophe to make pronunciation smoother. Remember that the masculine article un never takes an apostrophe, which is why we write un amico but un'epoca.
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