Breakdown of Il mago fingeva che il coniglio fosse magico.
essere
to be
magico
magical
che
that (conjunction introducing a clause)
il mago
the magician
il coniglio
the rabbit
fingere
to pretend
Questions & Answers about Il mago fingeva che il coniglio fosse magico.
Why is fosse in the imperfect subjunctive here instead of the present subjunctive (sia)?
Because the main verb (fingeva) is in a past tense. When the main clause is in the past, an action happening at the same time in the dependent clause must use the imperfect subjunctive. If the main verb were in the present, you would use the present subjunctive: Il mago finge che il coniglio sia magico.
Why does fingeva che trigger the subjunctive in the first place?
The verb fingere (to pretend) introduces a scenario that is fake or unreal. Just like verbs of doubt, hope, or emotion, expressing something outside of objective reality requires the subjunctive mood in the dependent che clause.
Wait, doesn't the Italian word pretendere mean 'to pretend'? Why use fingere?
How would this sentence change if the magician pretended that he himself was magical?
When the subject of the main verb and the second verb are the exact same person, Italian drops che and uses di + the infinitive verb. It would become: Il mago fingeva di essere magico. Because our original sentence has two different subjects (the magician and the rabbit), we must use che + the conjugated subjunctive verb.
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