Breakdown of Le ha generate come se provasse un'emozione.
una
a / an (feminine)
avere
to have
se
if
provare
to try
come
as (in comparisons)
l'emozione
the emotion
generare
to generate
Questions & Answers about Le ha generate come se provasse un'emozione.
Why is the verb provasse in the imperfect subjunctive here?
The phrase come se (as if) sets up a hypothetical comparison. In Italian, come se is always followed by the imperfect subjunctive to show that the action is contrary to fact or purely imaginary. Here, provasse is the third-person singular imperfect subjunctive of provare.
Why does the past participle end in 'e' (generate) instead of 'o' (generato)?
This is a mandatory agreement caused by the direct object pronoun le (them) at the beginning of the sentence. Whenever you use a third-person direct object pronoun (lo, la, li, or le) right before a compound tense formed with avere, the past participle must change to match the gender and number of that pronoun. Since le is feminine plural, generato becomes generate.
Doesn't provare usually mean 'to try'?
How do we know the subject is 'it' in both parts of the sentence?
Italian frequently drops subject pronouns. We know the subject is third-person singular because of the verb conjugations: ha is the third-person singular present of avere, and provasse is the third-person singular imperfect subjunctive. Context from the wider conversation would tell us whether to translate this hidden subject as 'he', 'she', or 'it' (for example, a computer program).
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