Italian All-in-One For Dummies (160 page)

lui, lei, Lei:
-ebbe

noi:
-emmo

voi:
-este

loro, Loro:
-ebbero

The following tables show some examples of regular
-are,
-ere,
and
-ire
verbs conjugated in the conditional mood.

Creating the irregular conditional

The irregular conditional mood and the spelling exceptions in the conditional mood use the same irregular stems as the irregular future tense verbs covered earlier in this chapter. These stems appear again in
Table 5-5
for your conjugating pleasure.
Note:
You use the conditional endings
-ei, -esti, -ebbe, -emmo, -este,
and
-ebbero.

Using dovere, potere, and volere in the conditional

The irregular verbs
dovere
(
to have to; must
),
potere
(
to be able to; can
), and
volere
(
to want; wish
) always enrich a sentence (check out
Table 5-5
for their conditional stems), and their use in the conditional mood is no exception. These verbs translate as
should
(
dovere
),
could
(
potere
)
,
and
would like to
(
volere
).

Dovere, potere,
and
volere
are often followed in the conditional by a second verb in the infinitive form:

Dovrei studiare.
(
I should study.
)

Potrei dormire
tutto il giorno.
(
I could sleep all day.
)

Vorrei sapere
chi
ti
credi
di essere.
(
I'd like to know who you think you are.
)

The conditional is considered the polite mood, especially when combined with
dovere,
potere,
and
volere.
Note the following three examples:

Dovremmo spostarci?
Diamo
fastidio?
(
Should we move [our spot]?
Are we in the way?
)

Potresti
darmi una mano, per piacere?
(
Would you please give me a hand?
)

Vorrei
un cappuccino, per favore.
(
I'd like a cappuccino, please.
)

Chapter 6

Getting into the Subjunctive Mood

In This Chapter

Putting together the present subjunctive

Reining in spelling exceptions and irregular verbs

Assimilating the many uses of the present subjunctive

Forming and using the imperfect subjunctive tense

P
rior to this chapter, most of this book has dealt with the
indicative
mood,
which has present, past, imperfect, and past perfect tenses. You use the indicative mood when expressing certainty and objectivity (for example,
mangio
con Anna oggi
[
I'm eating with Anna today
] and
so
che
sei arrabbiato
[
I know that you're angry
]). But now the time has come to introduce a little uncertainty into your life with the
subjunctive mood.
The subjunctive expresses doubt, uncertainty, opinion, emotions — generally, all things
subjective
(for example,
non so se Anna
mangi
con me oggi
[
I don't know if Anna is eating with me today
] and
penso
che tu
sia arrabbiato
[
I think that you're angry
]).

In this chapter, you discover how to form and use the present and imperfect subjunctive conjugations for a variety of Italian verbs.

Forming the Present Subjunctive Mood

The formation of the subjunctive mood usually calls for a dependent clause, which you introduce with the word
che
(
that
). (See the later section “
Making the Present Subjunctive a Valuable Tool
” for different uses of the subjunctive and the verbs that usually require it.) Notice the position of the subjunctive in the following sentence and the kind of verb used in the main clause:

Credo
che Emilia
dorma
poco.
(
I think that Emilia sleeps little.
)

In this sentence,
credo
is in the present indicative tense, and
dorma
is in the present subjunctive tense. Note, also, that the subject in the main clause (
io
[
I
]) is different from the subject in the dependent clause (
Emilia
).

In English, you may say
I think Emilia sleeps little;
you sometimes omit the
that
in English, but you never omit it in Italian.

The following similarities can help you remember your subjunctive conjugations:

The verb ending for
-are
verbs is the same for the first three persons (first, second, and third person singular):
-i.

The verb ending for both
-ere
and
-ire
verbs in the first three persons is the same:
-a.

The verb endings for first person plural (
noi
) and second person plural (
voi
) verbs are the same for
-are,
-ere,
and
-ire
verbs:
-iamo
and
-iate.

The verb ending for an
-are
verb in the third person plural (
loro
) is
-ino,
and the ending for
-ere
and
-ire
verbs is
-ano.

So you can think that many present subjunctive endings are almost the
opposites
of the present indicative endings. (See
Chapter 1
in Book IV for an introduction to present indicative endings.)

Here are some examples of the verb endings in action:

È
importante che il nostro presidente
parli
con il vostro.
(
It's important that our president speaks with yours.
)

La scuola
esige
che tutti gli studenti
vengano
alla riunione.
(
The school mandates that all the students come to the meeting
.)

The personal pronoun is often superfluous and unnecessary in Italian because the person is inherent in the verb form. But in the present subjunctive, you use the same verb for all three first persons. Therefore, you should use the personal pronoun (
io, tu, lui, lei, Lei
) or subject (Gianni, for example) with the present subjunctive to avoid confusing your reader/listener.