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La conclusione sarebbe stata epica se fossero arrivati gli alieni.

La conclusione sarebbe stata epica se fossero arrivati gli alieni.
The conclusion would have been epic if the aliens had arrived.
From Lesson 320:The third conditional (se + pluperfect subjunctive)·Italian

Breakdown of La conclusione sarebbe stata epica se fossero arrivati gli alieni.

essere
to be
arrivare
to arrive
se
if
l'alieno
the alien (m)
la conclusione
the conclusion
epico
epic

Questions & Answers about La conclusione sarebbe stata epica se fossero arrivati gli alieni.

Why do we use sarebbe stata in the first part and fossero arrivati in the second part?
This sentence uses the Third Conditional to talk about an impossible event in the past. The main result clause takes the past conditional (sarebbe stata), while the condition clause introduced by se requires the pluperfect subjunctive (fossero arrivati).
Why is the verb sarebbe stata rather than "avrebbe stato"?
The verb essere (to be) always takes essere as its auxiliary in compound tenses. Because the auxiliary is essere, the past participle must agree in gender and number with the subject. Since La conclusione is feminine singular, the participle becomes stata.
Why does the "se" clause use fossero instead of "avessero"?
The verb arrivare (to arrive) is a verb of motion, which means it requires essere as its auxiliary verb instead of avere. Because of this, the past participle arrivati must agree with the masculine plural subject, gli alieni.
Why is the subject gli alieni at the very end of the sentence?
Italian word order is quite flexible. You could absolutely say se gli alieni fossero arrivati, but putting the subject after the verb (se fossero arrivati gli alieni) places special emphasis on the aliens, almost like a punchline or a dramatic reveal.

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