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Se sforiamo il budget, riceviamo una penalità grave.

Se sforiamo il budget, riceviamo una penalità grave.
If we exceed the budget, we receive a serious penalty.
From Lesson 455:Otherwise (altrimenti)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Se sforiamo il budget, riceviamo una penalità grave.

The lesson is about 'altrimenti' (otherwise), but it's not in this sentence. How could we rewrite this sentence to use it?
You could rephrase it as a command followed by the consequence: Non sforiamo il budget, altrimenti riceviamo una penalità grave (Let's not exceed the budget, otherwise we'll receive a serious penalty). Altrimenti connects a desired action to the negative consequence of failing to do it.
What is the infinitive of sforiamo and how is it used?
The infinitive is sforare. It is a very common verb in business or planning contexts meaning 'to exceed,' 'to go over,' or 'to overstep.' You will often hear it used with time (sforare con i tempi) or money (sforare il budget).
How does Italian handle English loan words like budget?
English loan words are almost always masculine and invariable, meaning their endings don't change in the plural. If you needed to talk about multiple budgets, it would simply be i budget.
Why use the present tense (riceviamo) for a future consequence?
In Italian, when expressing a real, highly probable condition, it is very common to use the present tense for both the 'if' clause (se sforiamo) and the result clause (riceviamo). This makes the consequence feel immediate and certain. You could also use the future tense (riceveremo), but the present is perfectly natural here.
Does grave mean the same thing as the English word 'grave'?
They share the same Latin root, but grave in Italian is much more common in everyday speech and broadly means 'serious' or 'severe' (such as a severe mistake, a serious illness, or a heavy penalty). It does not refer to a physical burial place, which is instead una tomba.

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