Italian subjunctive (summary)
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The tenses belonging to the modo congiuntivo (subjunctive mood) express actions, placed in dependent and secondary clauses, related to opinions, desires, wishes, needs, and so on.
There are four different tenses in the Italian subjunctive:
- present (congiuntivo presente);
- imperfect (congiuntivo imperfetto);
- present perfect (congiuntivo passato);
- past perfect (congiuntivo trapassato).
Lesson outline
Hide- 1.Conjugation of the Italian subjunctive
- 1.1.Italian present subjunctive (congiuntivo presente)
- 1.2.Italian imperfect subjunctive (congiuntivo perfetto)
- 1.3.Italian present perfect subjunctive (congiuntivo passato)
- 1.4.Italian past perfect subjunctive (congiuntivo trapassato)
- 2.Use of the Italian subjunctive
Conjugation of the Italian subjunctive
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Italian present subjunctive (congiuntivo presente)
An interesting pattern to take into notice is the vowel switch which takes place in conjugation: verbs from the I conjugation use i in their endings, whereas those from the II and the III use a.
| parlare, "to talk" | vendere, "to sell" | scrivere, "to write" | |
|---|---|---|---|
| che io | parli | venda | scriva |
| che tu | parli | venda | scriva |
| che lui | parli | venda | scriva |
| che noi | parliamo | vendiamo | scriviamo |
| che voi | parliate | vendiate | scriviate |
| che loro | parlino | vendano | scrivano |
Still, there are many irregular verb conjugations worth paying attention to:
| dire | fare | potere | sedere | uscire | venire | volere |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| dica | faccia | possa | sieda | esca | venga | voglia |
| dica | faccia | possa | sieda | esca | venga | voglia |
| dica | faccia | possa | sieda | esca | venga | voglia |
| diciamo | facciamo | possiamo | sediamo | usciamo | veniamo | vogliamo |
| diciate | facciate | possiate | sediate | usciate | veniate | vogliate |
| dicano | facciano | possano | siedano | escano | vengano | vogliano |
Italian imperfect subjunctive (congiuntivo perfetto)
The imperfect subjunctive is formed through substitution of the endings of the imperfect indicative with the following ones:
| parlare,"to talk" | vendere, "to sell" | scrivere, "to write" | |
|---|---|---|---|
| che io | parlassi | vendessi | scrivessi |
| che tu | parlassi | vendessi | scrivessi |
| che lui | parlasse | vendesse | scrivesse |
| che noi | parlassimo | vendessimo | scrivessimo |
| che voi | parlaste | vendeste | scriveste |
| che loro | parlassero | vendessero | scrivessero |
Italian present perfect subjunctive (congiuntivo passato)
Unlike the previous two tenses, the present perfect subjunctive (congiuntivo passato) is a compound verb.
The conjugated forms of essere and avere (for intransitive and transitive verbs respectively) preceed the past participle form of the base verb.
| parlare, "to talk" (transitive) | uscire, "to go out" (intransitive) | |
|---|---|---|
| che io | abbia parlato | sia uscito |
| che tu | abbia parlato | sia uscito |
| che lui | abbia parlato | sia uscito |
| che noi | abbiamo parlato | siamo usciti |
| che voi | abbiate parlato | siate usciti |
| che loro | abbiano parlato | siano usciti |
Italian past perfect subjunctive (congiuntivo trapassato)
The congiuntivo trapassato is also a compound verb.
It follows the very same set of the rules as the previous tense, with the auxiliary essere or avere conjugated differently.
| parlare, "to talk" (transitive) | uscire, "to go out" (intransitive) | |
|---|---|---|
| che io | avessi parlato | fossi uscito |
| che tu | avessi parlato | fossi uscito |
| che lui | avesse parlato | fosse uscito |
| che noi | avessimo parlato | fossimo usciti |
| che voi | aveste parlato | foste usciti |
| che loro | avessero parlato | fossero usciti |
Use of the Italian subjunctive
The subjunctive has many functions in Italian, as it introduces subordinate clauses which integrate the sentence as either the subject or the object of the main verb.
Most of the time - but not always - subordinate sentences in Italian are introduced by the conjunction che.
Here some of the main uses for the subjunctive in Italian:
- imposition of will and necessity;
| IT | EN |
|---|---|
| È necessario che tu faccia di più per rimanere in questa compagnia. | It is necessary that you do more in order to stay in this firm. |
| Volevamo che parlaste di altri argomenti durante la conferenza. | We wanted you to discuss something else during the conference. |
| Ci aspettiamo che entro settembre tu abbia fatto progressi. | We expect you to have made some progress by September. |
| È possibile che avesse già capito il problema tempo fa. | It is possible that he had already understood the problem some time ago. |
- emotion and opinion;
| IT | EN |
|---|---|
| A loro piace che il caffè sia ben caldo. | They like the coffee to be well warm. |
| Speravo che veniste alla festa. | I was hoping you would come to the party. |
| Sono felice che tu abbia superato l'esame. | I am glad you have passed the exam. |
| Il fatto che fossero riusciti in quell'impresa rese la città orgogliosa. | The fact that they succeeded in that effort made the city proud. |
- doubt and negation;
| IT | EN |
|---|---|
| Non credo che Giancarlo possa aiutarci. | I don't think Giancarlo could help us. |
| Non era vero che Veronica avesse paura di trasferirsi all'estero. | It's not true that Veronica was afraid to move abroad. |
| Supponiamo che Andrea abbia trascorso la settimana viaggiando. | We suppose Andrea has spent the whole week travelling. |
| Gli è sembrato che la pasta non fosse cotta abbastanza. | It seemed to him that the pasta was not cooked enough. |
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My name is Daniela, I am Italian and I come from a small town in Sicily, Southern Italy. I am a qualified Italian language teacher and a CELI examiner! I work in two language schools teaching Italian and I also teach English at school.
I love foreign languages, translating, reading and listening to music. Are you ready to start your language learning path with me? We are going to learn many things and to talk a lot, if you allow me to! Don’t worry if you’ve never studied the language before: everyone can attend my classes – from beginner to advanced students. You just need passion for what you're going to do and... a good Internet connection. Materials are provided by me!
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Hi everyone!
My name is Daniela, I am Italian and I come from a small town in Sicily, Southern Italy. I am a qualified Italian language teacher and a CELI examiner! I work in two language schools teaching Italian and I also teach English at school.
I love foreign languages, translating, reading and listening to music. Are you ready to start your language learning path with me? We are going to learn many things and to talk a lot, if you allow me to! Don’t worry if you’ve never studied the language before: everyone can attend my classes – from beginner to advanced students. You just need passion for what you're going to do and... a good Internet connection. Materials are provided by me!
See you online!
I. T.
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Dear Iulia, I am so happy that you are satisfied with our courses together. It's true, we have come a long way. Your Italian (already beautiful from the start) has grown more and more and has become wonderful! Thank you for the trust you have given me since day one :-)
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My name is Ermanno, I am 37 years old, and I am a Italian native speaker.
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-What I offer-
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What we need is to enjoy the class, to express ourself and our creativity.
That's the best way to learn and to keep learning.
Furthermore, I will guide you in all the learning process steps and you will learn the grammar in a funny way. ;)
In the conversation class we spend the full hour talking in Italian/spanish about topics of your interest (sports, arts, traveling, culture, food, relations..);and I will make you speak as much as you can.
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Ermanno S.
Hi everyone!
My name is Daniela, I am Italian and I come from a small town in Sicily, Southern Italy. I am a qualified Italian language teacher and a CELI examiner! I work in two language schools teaching Italian and I also teach English at school.
I love foreign languages, translating, reading and listening to music. Are you ready to start your language learning path with me? We are going to learn many things and to talk a lot, if you allow me to! Don’t worry if you’ve never studied the language before: everyone can attend my classes – from beginner to advanced students. You just need passion for what you're going to do and... a good Internet connection. Materials are provided by me!
See you online!
R. T.
Daniela is a wonderful teacher and a pleasure to talk to. Any student would be lucky to have her as a teacher. Thank you Daniela for your help with my Italian!!!
Ciao Robbie, thanks a lot for your feedback. I'm very happy you like the classes together and I'll do my best to keep them as fun and interesting as possible :-)