Breakdown of Se fossi così fortunato, ti licenzieresti dal lavoro?
essere
to be
il lavoro
work / job
da
from, at (someone's place) / by (oneself), on one's own
così
so, like this
se
if
fortunato
lucky
licenziarsi
to quit one's job
Questions & Answers about Se fossi così fortunato, ti licenzieresti dal lavoro?
Why do we use fossi instead of sei or eri here?
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?
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?
The verb licenziarsi requires the preposition da (from) when you mention what you are quitting. Because you are quitting 'the job' (il lavoro), you combine da + il to make the articulated preposition dal.
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