Italian Condizionale – Present And Past Conditional in Italian

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What Is The Italian Condizionale?

The Italian conditional tense, or condizionale, is a mood used to describe all the situations related to uncertainty, doubt, wishes, assumptions, hypotheses or polite requests. The Italian Present Conditional Tense is the equivalent of the English constructions with “would” + verb.

  • Vorrei un caffè
    I would like a coffee

     

  • Apriresti la porta, per favore?
    Would you please open the door?

There are two tenses in the Italian condizionale: present and past. In this article we’ll see how to form them and all the different way you can use the conditional tense.

When To Use The Condizionale In Italian

The Italian Condizionale is quite easy to form. If you studied the subjunctive tense before, you will find that it’s much easier. However, because these two moods are sometimes used together in main and subordinate clauses some people tend to confuse them, even Italian people! Let’s now see all the different cases which require the Conditional tense in Italian.

Hypothetical Clause

The Conditional mood is often used in Italian to talk about something that might happen or to talk about very improbable situations. A hypothetical clause is basically a sentence that uses ‘if’ or an equivalent, to create a situation where one thing will happen dependent on another.

  • Se avessi i soldi, viaggerei più spesso
    If I had the money, I would travel more

This sentence uses first the imperfect subjunctive and then the present conditional mood and is formed by two parts: “se avessi i soldi” (If I had the money), which expresses a condition, and “viaggerei più spesso” (I would travel more), which indicates the consequence. In the sentence expressing the condition you need to use the subjunctive, while in the consequence sentence you use the Conditional tense.

  • Se potessi aiutarti lo farei
    If I could help you, I would do so

     

  • Se avessi meno impegni, verrei a trovarti
    If I were less busy, I would come to visit you

Polite Requests And Advices

You can use the Italian Conditional tense to express a polite request the same way you do it in English with would, or to give an advice or an opinion in order not to sound too authoritative. This second case is often translated in English with the construction “should + verb”:

  • Chiuderesti la finestra per favore?
    Would you please close the window?
  • Secondo me, dovresti studiare un po’ di più
    In my opinion, you should study a little bit more

     

  • Penso che dovresti andare in Italia
    I think you should go to Italy

Wishes

Another use of the Conditional tense is to express a wish or an intention, even one which is hardly going to happen. This is one of the easiest case to understand and put in use:

  • Vorrei essere ricco
    I would like to be rich

     

  • Vorrei comprare quell’auto, ma è troppo costosa
    I would like to buy that car, but it’s too expensive

     

  • Mi piacerebbe andare a Parigi quest’estate
    I would like to go to Paris this summer

     

  • Vorrei un caffè, per favore
    I would like a coffee, please

Regret

The Italian condizionale is sometimes used to express regret. This use of conditional tense translates in English with the structure “shouldn’t have + past participle”, to point out you shouldn’t have done something that you now regret:

  • Non sarei dovuto venire
    I shouldn’t have come

     

  • Non avrei dovuto ascoltarlo
    I shouldn’t have listened to him

Doubt

The Italian Condizionale can also be used to express a doubt:

  • Come potrei fare meglio di lui?
    How could I do better than him?

     

  • Non capisco come sarei d’aiuto
    I don’t understand how I would be helpful

A Future Action…In The Past

Italian people use condizionale to express a future action from the viewpoint of the past. Let’s see an example:

  • Marco ha detto che sarebbe venuto
    Marco said he would come 

In this sentence, Marco said (in the past) that he would come. Here we use conditional past tense to express uncertainty, because (despite what Marco said) we’re not sure whether he will actually come or not in a future moment.

  • Anna mi ha detto che avrebbe studiato con me oggi
    Anna told me she would study with me today

     

  • Pensavo che sarebbe stato più freddo, oggi
    I thought the weather would be colder today

When referring to an event that must take place in the future compared to a moment in the past, we are talking about Future in the Past. In Italian, this future event is expressed with Conditional perfect tense.

How To Make The Italian Conditional In The Present

You can form the condizionale presente of regular verbs by adding the following endings to the root of the verb, according to the three conjugations. The conditional present tense is similar to the conjugation of the Italian future simple. The good news is, the Conditional tense suffix are the same for all three groups of verbs:

  1. -are conjugation: -ei, -esti, -ebbe, -emmo, -este, -ebbero
  2. -ere conjugation: -ei, -esti, -ebbe, -emmo, -este, -ebbero
  3. -ire conjugation: -ei, -esti, -ebbe, -emmo, -este, -ebbero

However, you need to remember that when forming the present conditional of regular verbs you just need to remove the final -e of the infinitive form and not all the suffixes -are, -ere, – ire. You just remove the final -e and add an appropriate ending. For instance:

  • Credere (to believe): creder-ei, creder-esti, creder-ebbe, creder-emmo, creder-este, creder-ebbero

The exception is all the verbs in -are. These verbs change the “a” in the infinitive suffix –are with an “e”. After you replace it, you simply add the conditional endings:

  • Ascoltare (to listen): ascolter-ei, ascolter-esti, ascolter-ebbe, ascolter-emmo, ascolter-este, ascolter-ebbero

Now let’s see how the regular verbs of the three groups look like when conjugated in the Conditional present tense:

Ascoltare (to listen)

Credere (to believe)

Partire (to depart, leave)

io ascolterei

io crederei

io partirei

tu ascolteresti

tu crederesti

tu partiresti

lui/lei ascolterebbe

lui/lei crederebbe

lui/lei partirebbe

noi ascolteremmo

noi crederemmo

noi partiremmo

voi ascoltereste

voi credereste

voi partireste

loro ascolterebbero

loro crederebbero

loro partirebbero
  • Non partirei mai senza salutarti
    I would never leave without saying goodbye to you

     

  • Non crederei mai alle sue parole
    I would never trust his words

Please pay attention when you pronounce the third person plural noi (we). There is a double M in the suffix, and if you don’t put it, it can be confused with the third person plural of the future simple:

  • Noi ascolteremo – we will listen
  • Noi ascolteremmo – we would listen

The Italian Conditional Of Avere And Essere

Now let’s see how to conjugate the conditional tenses of the auxiliary verbs essere and avere, which are necessary to form the Conditional past of the acting verbs. The conditional present tense looks like this:

Essere (to be)

Avere (to have)

io sarei

io avrei

tu saresti

tu avresti

lui/lei sarebbe

lui/lei avrebbe

noi saremmo

noi avremmo

voi sareste

voi avreste

loro sarebbero

loro avrebbero
  • Sarei un giocatore di tennis migliore, se mi allenassi più spesso
    I’d be a better tennis player, If I trained more often

     

  • Avrei una domanda da farti
    I have (would have) a question to ask you

As usual in compound tenses, you need to add the past participle of the verb to form the conditional perfect tense. You will use the conditional present of essere or avere and add the past participle. The conditional perfect of auxiliary verbs looks like this:

Essere (to be)

Avere (to have)

io sarei stato/a

io avrei avuto

tu saresti stato/a

tu avresti avuto

lui/lei sarebbe stato/a

lui/lei avrebbe avuto

noi saremmo stati/e

noi avremmo avuto

voi sareste stati/e

voi avreste avuto

loro sarebbero stati/e

loro avrebbero avuto

Remember that verbs conjugated with essere must change their endings to agree in number and gender with the subject.

  • Se non avessimo studiato, non saremmo stati in grado di passare l’esame
    If we didn’t study, we wouldn’t be able to pass the test

     

  • Se non fosse stato per lui, non avrei avuto questa possibilità
    If it wasn’t for him, I would never have that chance

     

  • Sarebbe stato meglio partire ieri
    It would have been better to leave yesterday

Now let’s see in detail how to conjugate and use the conditional perfect, or condizionale passato.

How To Make The Italian Conditional In The Past

The Italian conditional perfect, or condizionale passato is formed with the conditional present of the auxiliary verb avere or essere and the past participle of the acting verb. It can be translated with the construction would have + verb

Ascoltare (to listen)

Credere (to believe)

Partire (to depart, leave)

io avrei ascoltato

io avrei creduto

io sarei partito/a

tu avresti ascoltato

tu avresti creduto

tu saresti partito/a

lui/lei avrebbe ascoltato

lui/lei avrebbe creduto

lui/lei sarebbe partito/a

noi avremmo ascoltato

noi avremmo creduto

noi saremmo partiti/e

voi avreste ascoltato

voi avreste creduto

voi sareste partiti/e

loro avrebbero ascoltato

loro avrebbero creduto

loro sarebbero partiti/e

When combined with the auxiliary essere, the past participle of the acting verb must always agree with the subject. The conditional perfect is also used to express doubts, uncertainty, or to say what we would have done if the conditions had been different.

  • Se non l’avessi visto, non avrei creduto alle sue parole
    If I had not seen it, I wouldn’t believe his words

     

  • Se ieri non avesse piovuto, saremmo partiti per la nostra gita
    If it didn’t rain yesterday, we would have left for our trip

The Italian conditional perfect is often used in combination with the pluperfect subjunctive – congiuntivo trapassato – to express the future in the past. This is the case when both the actions are already finished, because they already happened in the past, one after another.

  • Se avessi avuto tempo, ti avrei telefonato
    If I had the time, I would have called you

The sentence indicating the condition (if I had time) uses the pluperfect subjunctive and always happens before the consequence, while the sentence indicating the consequence (I would have called you) has the conditional perfect and indicates a possibility that didn’t happen because of the past circumstances.

  • Se avessi studiato di più, avrei passato l’esame
    If I had studied more, I would have passed the test

     

  • Se non avessi dovuto lavorare, sarei andata in palestra
    If I didn’t have to work, I would have gone to the gym

Here, conditional perfect is used when you want to talk about impossible events that didn’t happen because of the past circumstances.

Irregular Verbs

When forming the condizionale, irregular verbs typically fall into two groups:

Those who lose the “e” in the infinitive suffix (or verbs in -are that do not get the “e” and lose the “a” either):

  • andare: andr-ei, andr-esti, andr-ebbe, andr-emmo, andr-este, andr-ebbero
  • vivere: vivr-ei, vivr-esti, vivr-ebbe, vivr-emmo, vivr-este, vivr-ebbero
  • dovere: dovr-ei, dovr-esti, dovr-ebbe, dovr-emmo, dovr-este, dovr-ebbero
  • potere: potr-ei, potr-esti, potr-ebbe, potr-emmo, potr-este, potr-ebbero

Verbs who lose not only their infinitive suffix, but also the consonant before it and get a “rr” instead:

  • volere: vorr-ei, vorr-esti, vorr-ebbe, vorr-emmo, vorr-este, vorr-ebbero
  • rimanere: rimarr-ei, rimarr-esti, rimarr-ebbe, rimarr-emmo, rimarr-este, rimarr-ebbero

Other irregular verbs do not follow any rule and need to be studied by heart:

  • dare: dar-ei, dar-esti, dar-ebbe, dar-emmo, dar-este, dar-ebbero
  • fare: far-ei, far-esti, far-ebbe, far-emmo, far-este, far-ebbero
  • stare: star-ei, star-esti, star-ebbe, star-emmo, star-este, star-ebbero

Other Uses Of Condizionale

There are also some cases where the Italian use of condizionale has no equivalent in English. This is the case when Italian people want to express disappointment or anger towards a situation.

  • E lui, chi sarebbe?
    Who is he? (or, literally: who would he be?)

     

  • Io non mi sarei mai permesso di agire così!
    I would have never done such a thing!

The second case where condizionale is used in Italian but not in English is when you want to make a hypothesis or tell some news that you’re not certain about. The news are unconfirmed, so the subject cautiously guesses what happened:

  • Secondo la polizia, il ladro sarebbe scappato
    According to the police, the thief ran away
    (literally: according to the police, the thief would have run away)

     

  • Secondo i giornali il presidente si sarebbe dimesso
    According to the newspaper, the president resigned
    (literally: according to the newspaper, the president would have resigned)

Finally, I want to mention that the Italian conditional tense is not always translated with would. As you probably noticed, sometimes the condizionale is translated with the constructions should + verb or could + verb. This usually happens with the Italian verbs dovere (to have to) and potere (to be able to).

  • Dovremmo imparare una lingua straniera
    We should learn a foreign language

     

  • Non potrei mai fargli una cosa del genere
    I could never do this to him

It’s easier to understand these cases if you think that by using should and could in these examples you’re saying something like “would have to learn” or “would be able to do”.

Conclusion

The Italian condizionale is not as challenging as the subjunctive, but it does, just like all the other tenses, take some practice to get used to. If you would like to speak Italian like a native you definitely need to know how to use it!

Passato Remoto Italian- Not Much Used, But Still Alive

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What Is The Passato Remoto In Italian?

Passato remoto is  one of the past tenses in Italian.

As we know the most used past tense in Italian is the passato prossimo but Italian past tenses are way more than one. Here we will learn how the passato remoto is used in Italian.

In English the passato remoto refers to the simple past tense.

Examples:
Parlai con Vito – I talked to Vito
Il nonno giocai con i bambini – I played with the kids

When Do I Use The Passato Remoto In Italian?

Passato Remoto in Italian is generally used in the following situations:

To express the historical past

Examples:
Albert Einstein vinse il Premio Nobel nel 1921
Albert Einstein won the Nobel Prize in 1921

Dante Alighieri, autore de La Divina Commedia, nacque a Firenze nel 1265
Dante Alighieri, author of La Divina Commedia, was born in Florence in 1265

Roma distrusse Cartagine dopo un lungo assedio
Rome destroyed Carthage after a long siege

To talk about an action that happened and ended in the past

Example:
Quando iniziò la Seconda Guerra Mondiale i miei nonni erano molto piccoli
When the Second World War began, my grandparents were very young

In literature such as novels, books or fairy tales

Example:
La principessa Aurora si svegliò dopo essere stata baciata dal principe Filippo
Princess Aurora woke up after being kissed by Prince Philip

Regional Use Of The Passato Remoto In Italian

In the written language it is a stylistic choice to use the passato remoto instead of the passato prossimo.
While in the spoken language the passato remoto can be employed to express emotional distance from what we say or can simply be a regional use.

The passato remoto is more commonly used in Southern Italy, especially in Sicily where it could be even used to talk about recents events, and some central regions, like Tuscany, then in Northern Italy (here replaced by the passato prossimo).

In Southern Italy
Quando andai a trovare mia nonna mi disse che era malata.
When I visited my grandmother, she told me she was sick.

In Northern Italy
Quando sono andato a trovare mia nonna mi ha detto che era malata.
When I visited my grandmother, she told me she was sick.

How Do I Conjugate The Passato Remoto In Italian?

There are three types of passato remoto verbs: regular verbs, irregular verbs and partially irregular verbs.

Regular Verbs

This type of verb has specific endings that can vary among the three main verb classes (- are, – ere and –ire). To form regular verbs, remove the infinitive ending (- are, – ere or –ire) and add endings of the remote past to the root word. Here are some common regular verbs in the passato remoto:

amare – to love temere – to be afraid mentire – to lie
Io ama-i tem-ei/ tem-etti ment-ii
Tu ama-sti tem-esti ment-isti
Lui/Lei am-ò tem-ette/ tem-é ment-ì
Noi ama-mmo tem-emmo ment-immo
Voi ama-ste teme-este ment-iste
Loro ama-rono tem-erono/ tem-ettero ment-irono

NOTES:

  • In literature or old grammar books, instead of lui/lei (he/she) or loro (they) you can also find alternative pronouns like egli/ella or essi/esse. They are not used anymore, except in formal or literary contexts
  • As you can see, for –ere verbs there are two choices for the first person singular (temei or temetti), the third person singular (temette or temé) and the third person plural (temerono or temettero). You can find either of these two options in writing.

Examples:

Egli amò solo una donna nella sua vita: sua moglie! – He just loved a woman in his life: his wife!

Temei/ temetti di non superare il test perchè avevo studiato poco il giorno precedente – I was afraid of failing the test because I had studied very little the day before

Mia sorella mentì e costrinse anche me a mentire – My sister lied and she made me lie too.

Irregular Verbs

Unfortunately, there are no rules to form the passato remoto of irregular verbs. The only things you can do are: learning them by heart or writing down the conjugation of those most used (such as essere, bere, dare, dire, fare, stare).

essere – to be bere – to drink dare – to give dire – to say fare – to do stare – to stay
Io fui bevvi diedi dissi feci stetti
Tu fosti bevesti desti dicesti facesti stesti
Lui/ Lei fu bevve diede disse fece stette
Noi fummo bevemmo demmo dicemmo facemmo stemmo
Voi foste beveste deste diceste faceste steste
Loro furono bevvero diedero dissero fecero stettero

Examples:

Alessandro Manzoni fu il più importante scrittore italiano dell’Ottocento –Alessandro Manzoni was the most important Italian novelist of the 19th century

Bevve un bicchiere di vino e poi andò a letto – She drank a glass of wine and then went to bed

Quando lo vide gli diede un bacio – When she saw him, she gave him a kiss

Mi dissero che sarebbero partiti per le vacanze estive il 5 agosto – They told me they would leave for summer holidays on 5th August

I dottori fecero del loro meglio per salvarlo – Doctors did their best to save him

Stette a Cordoba più a lungo del previsto – He stayed in Cordoba longer than planned


Partially Irregular Verbs

This category of verbs presents a combination of regular and irregular forms. In these verbs the first and third person singular and third plural are irregular, while the second person singular and the first and second plural are regular.

Also in this case there are no formation rules. Anyway, you may consider the ending of the root in the infinitive:

1. If the root ends with M, R, V, GG, RR, T, you will use two SS to form the first and second person singular and third plural (such as scriv-ere – to write) →

scrivere – to write
Io scrissi
Tu scrivesti
Lui/Lei scrisse
Noi scrivemmo
Voi scriveste
Loro scrissero

2. If the root ends with double RR, you use only one S or RS to form the first and second person singular and third plural (such as corr-ere – to run) →

correre – to run
Io corsi
Tu corresti
Lui/Lei corse
Noi corremmo
Voi correste
Loro corsero

3. If the root ends with N, V or ND, you will use an S to form the first and second person singular and third plural (such as prend-ere – to take) →

prendere – to take
Io presi
Tu prendesti
Lui/Lei prese
Noi prendemmo
Voi prendeste
Loro presero

4. If the root ends with D, you can have use only an S at in the first and second person singular and third plural (such as chied-ere – to ask) →

chiedere – to ask
Io chiesi
Tu chiedesti
Lui/Lei chiese
Noi chiedemmo
Voi chiedeste
Loro chiesero

5. if the root ends with C or SC, you will have use CQU at in the first and second person singular and third plural (such as tac-ere – to keep quiet) →

tacere – to keep quiet
Io tacqui
Tu tacesti
Lui/Lei tacque
Noi tacemmo
Voi taceste
Loro tacquero

6. if the root ends with NG, you will find use NS at in the first and second person singular and third plural (such as piang-ere – to cry) →

piangere – to cry
Io piansi
Tu piangesti
Lui/Lei pianse
Noi piangemmo
Voi piangeste
Loro piansero

7. If the root ends with GL, you can have use only LS at in the first and second person singular and third plural (such as cogl-iere – to pick) →

cogliere – to pick
Io colsi
Tu cogliesti
Lui/Lei colse
Noi cogliemmo
Voi coglieste
Loro colsero

8. If the root ends with RG, you will have use RS at in the first and second person singular and third plural (such as porg-ere – to hand out) →

porgere – to hand out
Io porsi
Tu porgesti
Lui/Lei porse
Noi porgemmo
Voi porgeste
Loro porsero


More Verbs In the Passato Remoto

Conoscere

The verb conosc-ere (to know): although the root ends with SC, you will find OBB at in the first and second person singular and third plural →

conoscere – to know
Io conobbi
Tu conoscesti
Lui/Lei conobbe
Noi conoscemmo
Voi conosceste
Loro conobbero


Cadere 

Some verbs double the consonant of the root at in the first and second person singular and third plural (such as cad-ere – to fall) →

cadere – to fall
Io caddi
Tu cadesti
Lui/Lei cadde
Noi cademmo
Voi cadeste
Loro caddero


Sapere

Other verbs change their root completely at in the first and second person singular and third plural (such as sapere – to know) →

sapere – to know
Io seppi
Tu sapesti
Lui/Lei seppe
Noi sapemmo
Voi sapeste
Loro seppero

The Verb Avere In The Passato Remoto

Also avere (to have) is considered a partially irregular verb and has its own forms form at in the first and second person singular and third plural →

avere – to have
Io ebbi
Tu avesti
Lui/Lei ebbe
Noi avemmo
Voi aveste
Loro ebbero

Conclusions

Now you are finally able to recognize the passato remoto in literary works, documentaries or when listening to a conversation in South Italy!

As we saw, the use of this particular verbal time is not so too difficult… the real problem is its formation! Well, you should know the same Italian people often have some problems forming it. This could be comforting in a certain way for you! So, don’t worry if you sometimes make mistakes!

You will probably never use this tense when speaking to an Italian. In any case, it is useful to learn it because you could find it in Italian literature or novels, as we already said.

Even if it is gradually disappearing, there are often some exercises where the knowledge of passato remoto is required in exams to acquire Italian linguistic certification.

To gain some confidence with this tense, I suggest you to read Italian classic novels or tales.

If you want to check the correct formation of the verbs in the remote past, please consult one of the verb conjugators online, such as Il Coniugatore. With Il Coniugatore, you can insert the infinitive form of the verb and then look for the conjugation of passato remoto along with all the other Italian tenses.