Breakdown of Se si allenasse ogni giorno, avrebbe vinto la medaglia.
avere
to have
il giorno
the day
se
if
ogni
every
allenarsi
to work out
vincere
to win
la medaglia
the medal
Questions & Answers about Se si allenasse ogni giorno, avrebbe vinto la medaglia.
Why does this sentence mix the imperfect subjunctive (si allenasse) with the past conditional (avrebbe vinto)?
This is a mixed conditional. It describes a general or ongoing habit ('if she trained every day', which applies to her life right now) that would have changed a specific event in the past ('she would have won the medal'). If the training had also happened entirely in the past ('if she had trained'), Italian would use the pluperfect subjunctive: se si fosse allenata.
Why do we need the word si before allenasse?
In English, 'to train' can be used on its own, but in Italian, working out or practicing is expressed with the reflexive verb allenarsi (literally 'to train oneself'). If you just used allenare, it would mean to train or coach someone else.
Since the translation says 'she', why isn't the past participle feminine (vinta)?
Past participles only agree with the subject when the helping verb is essere. Because the helping verb for vincere is avere (avrebbe), the past participle vinto stays in its default masculine singular form. It would only change to vinta if there were a preceding direct object pronoun, such as l'avrebbe vinta (she would have won it).
Could si allenasse also mean 'if he trained'?
Yes! The ending -sse in the imperfect subjunctive is the standard third-person singular form. Without extra context, this sentence could equally mean 'if he trained' or 'if you (formal) trained'.
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