if It is a conjunction that introduces a conditional clause, much like an expression if only or The premise is in English.Its combination pure, In the ancient sense of “unique”, and That (That).
Verbs behind if As can be seen from the following example phrases, it is usually in a subjunctive tone:
As long as you don’t embarrass me, I will let you go with us!
As long as you don’t embarrass me, I will let you hang out with us!
As long as you don’t make too much noise, you can play in it.
As long as you don’t make too much noise, you can play in it.
if Can also be used to omit phrases, such as in the following example.
Dogs are also allowed, as long as they are on a leash.
Dogs are also allowed, but only if they must be on a leash.
Occasionally you may encounter if In the exclamation mark, in this case, its meaning is close to Let us hope…! or if…! in English.
As long as it is true!
Let us hope this is true!
If this is true!
Some synonyms of if Italian includes:
- Suppose (formal)
- The premise is (formal)
- Always like that (Informal)
- if only (Informal)
- if only (formal)
- I only know (Informal)
Finally, as the saying goes Any publicity is good publicity Can be translated as Good or bad, as long as you talk about it In Italian, it literally means In good or evil, just be talked about.
Another similar phrase is It doesn’t matter if you say it well, as long as you say it well, Which literally means Whether it’s positive or negative, just talk about it.
The latter is one of the (non-literal) translations of Oscar Wilde’s famous quote in “The Portrait of Dorian Gray”: There is only one thing in the world that is worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.
