Breakdown of Se o dragão fosse mais pequeno, voava melhor.
ser
to be
pequeno
small
mais
more
se
if
melhor
better / best
o dragão
the dragon
voar
to fly
Questions & Answers about Se o dragão fosse mais pequeno, voava melhor.
Is fosse the verb ser or the verb ir here?
In this sentence, fosse is the Imperfect Subjunctive form of ser (to be), meaning 'were'. The verbs ser and ir (to go) share the exact same forms in this tense, just like they do in the simple past tense. You have to tell them apart by the context of the sentence!
How do I remember the irregular shape of fosse since it doesn't look like ser?
For irregular verbs, a great trick is to look at the 'they' form in the simple past (Pretérito Perfeito). For ser, 'they were' is foram. Drop the -ram ending and add the Imperfect Subjunctive endings (-sse, -sses, -sse, -ssemos, -ssem). That leaves you with fosse for the dragon.
Why does the second half of the sentence use voava (used to fly) instead of the conditional voaria (would fly)?
In European Portuguese, people usually swap out the Conditional tense for the Imperfect Indicative (voava) in everyday conversation. So even though it literally looks like 'used to fly', in an 'if' sentence like this, it translates to 'would fly'. You can still use voaria, but voava sounds much more natural when speaking.
I thought 'smaller' was menor. Why does this sentence use mais pequeno?
In Portugal, mais pequeno is the most common way to talk about physical size (like a smaller dragon's body). The word menor is absolutely correct but is generally saved for abstract things, like a lesser value, a minor problem, or someone's age.
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