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O árbitro marcaria o primeiro penálti se estivesse lá.

O árbitro marcaria o primeiro penálti se estivesse lá.
The referee would call the first penalty if he were there.
From Lesson 219:Second conditional (se... + conditional)·Portuguese (Portugal)

Questions & Answers about O árbitro marcaria o primeiro penálti se estivesse lá.

Why is estivesse used instead of a normal past tense like esteve or estava?
Because this is a hypothetical situation that isn't actually true (the referee wasn't there). In Portuguese, to express an unlikely or unreal 'if' scenario (a second conditional), we use se followed by the imperfect subjunctive, which is estivesse here.
What tense is marcaria, and why is it used?
marcaria is in the conditional tense ('would call'). In a second conditional sentence, the result clause uses the conditional to show what would happen in the imaginary situation. As you might remember from this lesson, European Portuguese speakers also frequently use the imperfect indicative (marcava) instead of the conditional here in everyday speech.
Wait, doesn't marcar usually mean 'to score' or 'to mark'?
Yes! In a sports context, a player can marcar um golo (score a goal) or marcar um penálti (score a penalty). However, when the subject doing the action is o árbitro (the referee), marcar means to 'call', 'award', or 'signal' a foul or penalty.
The translation says 'if he were there'. Why use estivesse (from estar) instead of fosse (from ser)?
Even though the English translation is just 'were', Portuguese still follows the standard rules for ser versus estar. Since being 'there' (lá) refers to a physical location at a specific moment, you must use the verb estar. Using fosse would wrongly imply a permanent characteristic.
Can we change the order of the sentence so the 'if' part comes first?
Absolutely. You could say: Se estivesse lá, o árbitro marcaria o primeiro penálti. The grammar rules stay exactly the same; you just add a comma after the se clause when it starts the sentence.

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