Breakdown of Il programma funziona come se l'intelligenza fosse reale.
essere
to be
se
if
il programma
the program
come
as (in comparisons)
Questions & Answers about Il programma funziona come se l'intelligenza fosse reale.
Why is fosse used here instead of a regular past tense like era?
The phrase come se (as if) sets up a hypothetical situation. In Italian, come se is always followed by the subjunctive mood. Because we are talking about an imaginary state, we use the imperfect subjunctive form of essere, which is fosse.
The first verb funziona is in the present tense. Why does fosse look like a past tense?
Even though funziona is in the present tense, come se always triggers a past subjunctive tense (usually the imperfect subjunctive) to show that the situation is unreal or imaginary right now. Notice that English does the exact same thing: we say 'as if it were real,' using a past tense form to describe a present hypothetical.
Why does the sentence use funziona for 'works' instead of lavora?
The word l'intelligenza is feminine. Why doesn't the adjective reale end in '-a'?
Reale belongs to a group of adjectives that end in -e in their singular form. These adjectives are the same for both masculine and feminine nouns. They only change their ending to -i when they become plural.