Breakdown of Ha risposto che il preventivo arrivava quella sera.
quello
that
arrivare
to arrive
la sera
the evening
rispondere
to answer, to reply
Questions & Answers about Ha risposto che il preventivo arrivava quella sera.
Why do we use quella sera here instead of stasera?
Why is arrivava in the imperfetto tense?
In past indirect speech, an original statement in the present tense shifts to the imperfetto. The original speaker likely used the present tense for a near-future plan: 'Il preventivo arriva stasera'. When reported in the past, arriva shifts a step back in time to arrivava.
Could we use the past conditional (sarebbe arrivato) instead of the imperfetto here?
Yes! If the original speaker had used the future tense ('Il preventivo arriverà stasera'), we would use the past conditional to express the 'future in the past' and say sarebbe arrivato. Using the imperfetto here just tells us the speaker originally used the present tense for a scheduled event.