Breakdown of Pensavo che avessero perso l'orgoglio per l'artigianato antico.
avere
to have
per
for / in order to / because of
perdere
to lose, to miss
pensare
to think
antico
ancient
che
that (conjunction introducing a clause)
l'orgoglio
the pride (m)
l'artigianato
the craftsmanship (m)
Questions & Answers about Pensavo che avessero perso l'orgoglio per l'artigianato antico.
Why do we use the past perfect subjunctive (avessero perso) here?
The main verb Pensavo (I thought) expresses an opinion in the past, triggering the subjunctive. Because the action of losing their pride happened before the thinking, Italian uses the past perfect subjunctive (trapassato congiuntivo) to step further back in time.
The English translation says 'pride in,' so why does Italian use per instead of in?
In Italian, the noun orgoglio (pride) is paired with the preposition per when indicating the object of the pride. Literal translations of English prepositions often do not work, so it is best to learn orgoglio per as a set phrase.
How could we express a similar meaning using the pronominal verb tenerci from this lesson?
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