Word
Sarei uscito, ma pensavo che fosse tornata la pioggia.
Meaning
I would have gone out, but I thought that the rain had returned.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Sarei uscito, ma pensavo che fosse tornata la pioggia.
ma
but
tornare
to return
uscire
to go out
pensare
to think
Questions & Answers about Sarei uscito, ma pensavo che fosse tornata la pioggia.
Why is fosse tornata used here instead of a normal past tense?
The verb pensare (to think) triggers the subjunctive because it expresses an opinion or uncertainty. Since the thinking happened in the past (pensavo), and the rain returning happened before that thought, we need the Pluperfect Subjunctive. It acts like the past of the past for subjunctive triggers.
Why is the helper verb fosse instead of avesse, and why does it end in -a (tornata)?
The verb tornare (to return) is a verb of motion, so it takes essere as its helper verb. In the Pluperfect Subjunctive, we use the imperfect subjunctive of essere (fosse). Because it uses essere, the past participle (tornata) must match the gender and number of the subject it refers to, which is the feminine singular la pioggia.
Why is la pioggia at the very end of the sentence?
Why is it sarei uscito and not avrei uscito?