Breakdown of Eles ganhariam se o capitão marcasse aquele penálti.
eles
they (m)
aquele
that over there (aquele, aquela, aqueles, aquelas)
o capitão
the captain
ganhar
to win
se
if
o penálti
the penalty
marcar
to score
Questions & Answers about Eles ganhariam se o capitão marcasse aquele penálti.
Why is the verb marcar in the imperfect subjunctive form (marcasse)?
This sentence is a second conditional statement, which talks about a hypothetical or unlikely situation. When you use se (if) for a hypothetical scenario like this, the verb that follows must be in the imperfect subjunctive (marcasse). The other half of the sentence then shows the result using the conditional tense (ganhariam).
Can I use a different tense instead of ganhariam for the result?
Why does the word penálti have an accent mark?
Words ending in -i naturally have the stress on the final syllable in Portuguese. Because penálti is borrowed from the English word penalty, it needs to keep the stress on the first syllable instead. The acute accent forces the stress onto the á and tells you to use an open sound.
Why use aquele for that penalty instead of esse?
Both words translate to that, but aquele is used for things that are far away from both the speaker and the listener, either in physical distance or in time (like a past game). If the penalty was happening right next to the listener, or if the listener had just brought it up in conversation, you would use esse instead.
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