Breakdown of Se avesse finito il dottorato, insegnerebbe giurisprudenza.
avere
to have
finire
to finish
se
if
insegnare
to teach
il dottorato
the PhD
la giurisprudenza
the law
Questions & Answers about Se avesse finito il dottorato, insegnerebbe giurisprudenza.
Why do we have a mix of past and present tenses in this sentence?
This is a mixed conditional. The 'if' clause uses the pluperfect subjunctive (se avesse finito) to talk about an unrealized condition in the past (she didn't finish it). The result clause uses the present conditional (insegnerebbe) because the imaginary consequence is happening right now (she would be teaching today).
Could avesse finito also mean 'If I had finished'?
No. While some subjunctive conjugations share identical forms across different pronouns, the auxiliary verb here is in the imperfect subjunctive. The forms for 'I' and 'you' are both avessi, while the third person (he/she/it) is avesse. So, avesse finito can only mean 'he/she/it had finished' or the formal 'you'.
Why is 'law' translated as giurisprudenza instead of legge?
When talking about law as an academic discipline, a university degree, or a faculty, Italians use giurisprudenza. The word legge refers to a specific legal rule or the concept of the law in general. You study or teach giurisprudenza, but you obey a legge.
The English translation says 'her PhD', but there is no possessive adjective in the Italian sentence. Why?
In Italian, when the owner of a noun is completely obvious from the context, the definite article (in this case, il) is often used instead of a possessive adjective like il suo. This is very common with personal milestones, body parts, and clothing.
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