Italiano V
Conditional Tense
SuperCi@o 3
Il condizionale
the conditional
(il condizionale)
1. The CONDIZIONALE, or conditional
tense, is roughly the equivalent of the
English "would + infinitive."
2. As in English, the CONDIZIONALE is
used to express: hopes and desires ("of
course I would go to Italy!"); a possibility
depending on certain conditions ("I would
ski if there were snow"); to soften a
request ("Would you bring me some
coffee?");
…to express personal opinions ("I would
say that our teacher is too demanding").
3. The CONDIZIONALE is a verb mood
(like the INDICATIVO, INFINITO,
IMPERATIVO are also verb moods) which
has two tenses, the present and the
past: CONDIZIONALE PRESENTE and
CONDIZIONALE PASSATO.
4. The CONDIZIONALE PASSATO is used
to express the uses described in 2. above,
when the action refers to something in the
past.
5. The CONDIZIONALE PASSATO is also
used to indicate a future action from the
point of view of the past; English, by
contrast, uses the present conditional for
this: "Yesterday, my sister told me that
she would visit me today;" in Italian, you
would say: "Ieri, mia sorella mi ha detto
che oggi mi avrebbe visitato."
6. The CONDIZIONALE of "potere,"
"volere," and "dovere" is "potrei,"
"vorrei," and "dovrei," and it can be
translated as "I could," "I would like," "I
should."
The CONDIZIONALE presente is formed by
adding the CONDIZIONALE endings to the
stem of the FUTURO. The CONDIZIONALE
passato is formed by using the
CONDIZIONALE of AVERE or ESSERE
(depending on what the verb takes) plus
the PARTICIPIO PASSATO.
CONDIZIONALE PRESENTE
scriver-ei
scriver-esti
scriver-ebbe
scriver-emmo
scriver-este
scriver-ebbero
CONDIZIONA
LE PASSATO
sarei andato
saresti
andato
sarebbe
andato
saremmo
andati
sareste
andati
sarebbero
andati
remember:
1. verbs in -ARE form the
FUTURO stem by changing
the A into an E
(parlare>>parler-ei,
ballare>>baller-ei)
2. all the verbs that have an avrei
irregular stem in the
mangiato
FUTURO have an irregular
avresti
stem in the
mangiato
CONDIZIONALE (volere>>v avrebbe
orr-ei; bere>>berr-ei;
mangiato
avere>>avr-ei;
avremmo
potere>>potr-ei;
mangiato
venire>>verr-ei;
avreste
dare>>dar-ei; essere>>sar- mangiato
ei; dovere>>dovr-ei)
avrebbero
3. the endings for the
man
CONDIZIONALE are always
regular
The conditional perfect
(condizionale passato)
… like all compound tenses in Italian, is formed with the
condizionale presente of the auxiliary verb avere or essere
and the past participle of the acting verb. Conjugated forms
of avere and essere appear in the table below.
Here are a few examples of the condizionale passato in
action. Remember that verbs conjugated with essere must
change their endings to agree in number and gender with
the subject:
Avremmo potuto ballare tutta la notte. (We could have
danced all night.)
Avreste dovuto invitarlo. (You ought to have invited him.)
Saremmo andati volentieri alla Scala, ma non abbiamo
potuto. (We would gladly have gone to La Scala, but we
weren't able to.)
Mirella sarebbe andata volentieri al cinema. (Mirella
would have been happy to go to the cinema.)
CONDIZIONALE PRESENTE OF THE VERBS
AVERE AND ESSERE
PERSON
SINGULAR
PLURAL
I
(io) avrei, sarei
(noi) avremmo, saremmo
II
(tu) avresti, saresti
(voi) avreste, sareste
III
(lui, lei, Lei) avrebbe,
sarebbe
(loro, Loro) avrebbero,
sarebbero
CONDITIONAL PERFECT TENSE
The conditional perfect is a tense that is
used to express the idea of "would have."
Some examples of sentences in the
conditional perfect in English are:
1. I would have bought a house, but I
didn't have the money.
2. She would have come but she was ill.
Here is how you do it:
1. You need the conditional tense of the
verb Avere
Avrei = I would have
Avresti = You (singular) would have
Avrebbe = he/she would have
Avremmo = We would have
Avreste = you (plural) would have
Avrebbero = They would have
2. You need the past participle of the verb
you are using.
To form a past partciple, start from the
infinitve form of the verb. Infinitives end
in either "are" "ere" or "ire"
If the infinitive ends in "are" then you cut
off the "are" and add the letters "ato"
parlare ---> parl ---> parlato = spoken
If the infinitive ends in "ere" then you cut
off the "ere" and add the letters "uto"
vedere ---> ved ---> veduto = seen
If the infinitive ends in "ire" then you cut
off the "ire" and add the letters "ito" finire
---> fin ---> finito = finished
She would have spoken:
1. On the chart above find the translation
for "she would have." She would have is
translated Avrebbe
2. Now form your past participle with the
verb to speak (parlare)
parlare ---> parl ---> parlato (I added
"ato" because parlare ends
in "are"
3. Now put the bold words
together: Avrebbe parlato = She would
have spoken.
It is important to know that there is a list
of verbs that (in the conditional perfect)
are not conjugated with the conditional of
avere. Rather, they are conjugated with the
conditional of the verb "essere".
Here are the verbs that take "essere"
instead of "avere" irregular past particples
are in parenthesis.
to arrive arrivare
to go andare
to go out uscire
to enter entrare
to come venire (venuto)
to be essere (stato)
to leave partire
to stay, be stare (stato)
to disappear sparire
to come back tornare
to be born nascere (nato)
to die morire (morto)
to remain rimanere (rimasto)
Here is the verb "essere" in the
conditional tense
….would
Sarei (I)
Saresti (you singular familiar)
Sarebbe (You Formal, he/she)
Saremmo (we)
Sareste (you all )
Sarebbero (All of you, they)
I would have arrived:
1. On the chart above, find the "I" form
of essere in the conditional tense. The
"I" form is sarei
2. Now obtain your past particple:
arrivare = to arrive.
arrivare ---> arriv ---> arrivato
3. Now put the bold words
together: Sarei arrivato = I would have
arrived.
Always remember that when you use
essere with the conditional perfect, the
past particple must agree in number
and gender with the subject
If the subject is masculine singular, the
past particple ends in "O". If the
subject is feminine singular, the past
participle ends in "A". If the subject is
masculine plural, the past particple
ends in "I". If the subject is feminine
singular, the past participle ends in
"E".
arrivato (m.s.)......arrivata
(f.s.).......arrivati (m.pl.).........arrivate
(f.pl.)