Breakdown of Se da giovane avessi frequentato l'università, ora avresti un'occupazione stabile.
un
a / an (masculine)
giovane
young
l'università
the university
avere
to have
ora
now
se
if
da
as a (child/teenager), when one was
frequentare
to attend (school, classes)
l'occupazione
employment
stabile
stable
Questions & Answers about Se da giovane avessi frequentato l'università, ora avresti un'occupazione stabile.
Why do we use the pluperfect subjunctive (avessi frequentato) in the first half, but the present conditional (avresti) in the second half?
This is a Type 1 Mixed Conditional. You use it when a hypothetical action in the past (avessi frequentato - "if you had attended") has a theoretical result in the present (ora avresti - "you would have now"). If both the condition and the result were in the past, you would use the past conditional for the result (avresti avuto).
Why does the sentence use da giovane instead of quando eri giovane?
Both are perfectly correct, but da + [stage of life] is a very natural and concise way to say "when I was / when you were [blank]". You will often hear da bambino (as a child), da ragazzo (as a teenager), and da giovane (when young). Notice that you do not use an article after da in this construction.
Could I use fossi instead of avessi as the helper verb for frequentato?
No. Just like in the standard past tense, transitive verbs (verbs that take a direct object, like l'università in this sentence) always take avere as their auxiliary verb. Therefore, the pluperfect subjunctive of frequentare must be formed with avere (avessi frequentato).
Why is there an apostrophe in un'occupazione?
Occupazione is a feminine noun that starts with a vowel. The feminine indefinite article is una, but when it precedes a vowel, the final letter is dropped and replaced with an apostrophe. Remember that the masculine article un never takes an apostrophe, so seeing one here is a great refresher that the noun is feminine.
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