Breakdown of Fosse stato per me, non avrei scelto una strategia azzardata come quella di Luca.
essere
to be
una
a / an (feminine)
non
not
quello
that
avere
to have
di
of, from
per
for / in order to / because of
me
me
Luca
Luca
scegliere
to choose
come
as (in comparisons)
la strategia
the strategy
azzardato
risky (rash, bold)
Questions & Answers about Fosse stato per me, non avrei scelto una strategia azzardata come quella di Luca.
Why does the sentence start with Fosse stato instead of Se fosse stato?
In Italian, you can drop the word se (if) in conditional clauses for a more elegant or emphatic tone, much like replacing 'If I had known' with 'Had I known' in English. When you drop se, the verb must be in the imperfect or pluperfect subjunctive and moves to the very front of the sentence. Here, Fosse stato per me means the exact same thing as Se fosse stato per me.
What exactly does the phrase essere per qualcuno mean in this context?
Why do we need quella in the phrase come quella di Luca?
Quella (that one) is a demonstrative pronoun standing in for the noun strategia so we do not have to repeat it. Since Italian does not have an 'apostrophe-s' for possession like English does (Luca's), you have to say 'like that of Luca', ensuring quella agrees in gender and number with the feminine singular strategia.
Is the adjective azzardata a false friend with the English word 'hazardous'?
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