Italian subjunctive (summary)
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
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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