Breakdown of Se avessi un castello immenso, che cosa sognaresti di fare?
un
a / an (masculine)
il castello
the castle
avere
to have
che
what
la cosa
the thing
fare
to do / to make
se
if
di
to (linking a verb to a following infinitive)
sognare
to dream
immenso
immense
Questions & Answers about Se avessi un castello immenso, che cosa sognaresti di fare?
Why do we use avessi instead of the regular past tense avevi?
This sentence is a second conditional, which talks about an unlikely or hypothetical situation. In Italian, the se (if) clause for a hypothetical situation must use the imperfect subjunctive, which is avessi here. You cannot use the regular past tense for hypothetical 'if' clauses.
Since avessi is both the 'I' and 'you' form in the imperfect subjunctive, how do we know who is the subject here?
We know it is 'you' (tu) because of the main verb in the sentence. sognaresti is strictly the 'you' form of the present conditional. The context tells us the subjects match, so avessi refers to 'you' as well.
Why do we need the word di before fare?
In Italian, when the verb sognare (to dream) is followed directly by an action in the infinitive (like fare), it must be connected with the preposition di. So, 'to dream of doing' is always sognare di fare.
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