Breakdown of Avesse mantenuto la concentrazione, avrebbe fatto un bel contrattacco.
un
a / an (masculine)
bello
beautiful
avere
to have
fare
to do / to make
mantenere
to maintain / to keep (preserve, support)
il contrattacco
the counterattack
la concentrazione
the concentration
Questions & Answers about Avesse mantenuto la concentrazione, avrebbe fatto un bel contrattacco.
Why is there no se (if) at the beginning of the sentence?
This sentence uses a more advanced, elegant structure where se is dropped. When you omit se in a conditional clause about the past, you must start directly with the verb in the pluperfect subjunctive. In this case, that is avesse mantenuto. This is exactly like saying 'Had he maintained...' instead of 'If he had maintained...' in English.
Because se is omitted, could we include the subject pronoun at the beginning, like Lui avesse mantenuto...?
No, you cannot put the subject before the verb when you drop se. If you want to include the subject pronoun for clarity, it must go after the auxiliary verb, which is known as subject-verb inversion. You would have to say Avesse lui mantenuto.... However, since the context usually makes it clear, the pronoun is often left out entirely, just as it is here.
Why is the past conditional (avrebbe fatto) used in the second half?
Because this describes an unrealized past condition. The first part (avesse mantenuto) sets up a condition in the past that didn't happen, and avrebbe fatto (he would have made) describes the hypothetical past result. If you were describing a hypothetical result happening right now, you would use the present conditional (farebbe).
Why does the sentence use bel instead of bello for 'nice'?
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