Breakdown of Magari non fossi un materialista!
essere
to be
un
a / an (masculine)
non
not
magari
if only / I wish
il materialista
the materialist
Questions & Answers about Magari non fossi un materialista!
Why does materialista end in -a if it is used with the masculine article un?
Nouns ending in the suffix -ista (used for professions or adherents to an ideology) are unusual because they end in -a for both masculine and feminine forms in the singular. We know the speaker is male here because of the masculine article un. A female speaker would say una materialista. In the plural, they take standard endings: -isti (masculine) and -iste (feminine).
What is the ideology associated with being a materialista?
I thought magari meant 'maybe'. Why does it mean 'if only' here?
When magari is followed by an indicative verb or used on its own, it usually means 'maybe' or 'probably'. However, when it is paired with the imperfect subjunctive (like fossi in this sentence), it completely changes its function to express a strong wish or regret, translating to 'if only' or 'I wish'.
Since fossi can be the 'io' or 'tu' form in the subjunctive, how do we know the speaker means 'I'?
In the imperfect subjunctive, the first and second person singular forms are identical (fossi). However, in exclamations starting with magari, the verb almost always defaults to the speaker (io), meaning 'If only I were...'. If the speaker meant 'If only you were...', they would normally add the pronoun for clarity: magari tu non fossi un materialista!
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