Breakdown of La corte ha preteso che andassi dal sovrano.
avere
to have
da
from, at (someone's place) / by (oneself), on one's own
andare
to go / to be fine / to work out
che
that (conjunction introducing a clause)
pretendere
to demand
il sovrano
the sovereign
la corte
the court (royal or high court)
Questions & Answers about La corte ha preteso che andassi dal sovrano.
Why is the imperfect subjunctive andassi used here instead of di andare?
Because the subject making the demand (la corte) is different from the person who has to do the action (tu), we cannot use di + infinitive. Instead, we use che + subjunctive. Since the main verb (ha preteso) is in a past tense, the dependent verb shifts to the imperfect subjunctive (andassi).
I thought pretendere meant to pretend. Why is it translated as demanded?
Could andassi also mean that I go, rather than you go?
Yes. In the imperfect subjunctive, the io and tu forms are exactly the same (andassi). Without wider context, this sentence could absolutely mean that I go to the sovereign. If a speaker needs to avoid confusion, they will add the subject pronoun, saying che tu andassi or che io andassi.
Why does the sentence use dal sovrano if the translation says to the sovereign?
In Italian, when you express motion toward a person or a person's space (like going to the doctor, or in this case, the sovereign), you must use the preposition da. It combines with the definite article il to become dal.
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