Breakdown of Avrei voluto ribellarmi a quella norma.
quello
that
avere
to have
a
to / at
volere
to want
la norma
the norm / the rule
ribellarsi
to rebel
Questions & Answers about Avrei voluto ribellarmi a quella norma.
Since ribellarsi is a reflexive verb, why does this sentence use avrei (avere) instead of sarei (essere) as the auxiliary?
This is the key rule for modal verbs like volere, potere, and dovere when used with reflexive verbs. Because the reflexive pronoun mi is attached to the end of the infinitive (ribellarmi), the modal verb keeps its normal auxiliary, which is avere. If you moved the pronoun to the front of the verb phrase, you would have to switch to essere: mi sarei voluto ribellare.
What does avrei voluto convey here that a regular past tense like ho voluto wouldn't?
Avrei voluto is the past conditional. It translates to "I would have liked to" or "I would have wanted to." Using this tense strongly implies an unfulfilled desire in the past—you wanted to rebel, but you ultimately didn't. A regular past tense like ho voluto just means "I wanted to" and usually implies you actually followed through.
The English translation says "rebel against", but the Italian uses the preposition a. Is it wrong to use contro?
You can use contro (ribellarmi contro quella norma), but the verb ribellarsi most commonly pairs with the preposition a to mean "rebel against." In Italian, resisting, reacting, or rebelling is often conceptualized as a reaction directed to something rather than just a clash against it.
If I change the subject of this sentence to "we", how does the verb phrase change?
It becomes avremmo voluto ribellarci. The auxiliary changes to avremmo (we would have), the past participle voluto stays exactly the same because it uses avere, and the pronoun at the end of the infinitive becomes ci. If you moved the pronoun to the front, it would be ci saremmo voluti ribellare (notice how the auxiliary becomes essere and the participle changes to match the plural subject!).
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