Learn Italian: Se fossi così fortunato, ti licenzieresti dal lavoro? - If you were so lucky, would you quit your job?

This sentence uses the second conditional to talk about a hypothetical possibility. In Italian, you express 'If [hypothetical situation]' by using se followed by the imperfect subjunctive. Fossi is the imperfect subjunctive of essere. The main action then uses the present conditional (ti licenzieresti).

Fossi can mean 'I were' or 'you were' in the imperfect subjunctive. How do we know it means 'you were' here?

You have to look at the context! The main clause uses ti licenzieresti, which is the 'tu' (you) form. Since the person doing the quitting is 'you', it tells us the subject of the se clause is also 'you'. Also, fortunato ends in -o, telling us this specific 'you' is masculine.

What is the infinitive of ti licenzieresti, and how does it work here?

The infinitive is licenziarsi, a reflexive verb meaning 'to quit' or 'to resign' (literally, 'to dismiss oneself'). It is conjugated here in the present conditional for 'tu': the reflexive pronoun ti comes first, followed by the conditional verb licenzieresti.

Why is it dal lavoro and not just da lavoro?