The imperfect subjunctive in Italian, similar to the present perfect in the subjunctive, is used to express desires and wishes. However, these desires and wishes are often in the past or refer to unlikely events or possibilities, for example:
| Se fossi in te, non andrei. | If I were you, I wouldn’t go. |
Conjugation
To form the stem of the verb needed for regular verb conjugation of the imperfect subjunctive in Italian, we drop the final “-re” of the verb and attach the conjugation suffix. The suffixes are the same for the three types of verbs.
| -are ending e.g., parlare (to speak) | -ere ending e.g., vendere (to sell) | -ire ending e.g., partire (to leave) | |
| io | parlassi | vendessi | partissi |
| tu | parlassi | vendessi | partissi |
| lui/lei | parlasse | vendesse | partisse |
| noi | parlassimo | vendessimo | partissimo |
| voi | parlaste | vendeste | partiste |
| loro | parlassero | vendessero | partissero |
Irregular Verbs
Verbs that are irregular in the imperfect indicative are also irregular in the imperfect subjunctive. Here are the most common irregular verbs:
| io | tu | lui/lei | noi | voi | loro | |
| bere (to drink) | bevessi | bevessi | bevesse | bevessimo | beveste | bevessero |
| dare (to give) | dessi | dessi | desse | dessimo | deste | dessero |
| dire (to say/tell) | dicessi | dicessi | dicesse | dicessimo | diceste | dicessero |
| essere (to be) | fossi | fossi | fosse | fossimo | foste | fossero |
| fare (to do/make) | facessi | facessi | facesse | facessimo | faceste | facessero |
| stare (to stay/be) | stessi | stessi | stesse | stessimo | steste | stessero |
Uses of the Imperfect Subjunctive in Italian
Let us discuss the common uses of the imperfect subjunctive and check some examples:
1. Expressing Past Desires, Wishes, Feelings, Requests, and Recommendations.
Whereas the present subjunctive is used to express opinion, possibility, and feelings such as fear, doubt, hope, desire, etc., about something in the present or the future, the imperfect subjunctive can be used similarly, but when the hope, desire, feeling, etc. itself is in the past.
For example, using the present subjunctive, we can say:
| Voglio che tu venga a casa mia. | I want you to come to my house. |
| Mi rattrista che non mi chiamino. | It makes me sad that they don’t call me. |
If that hope or desire occurred in the past, the imperfect subjunctive should be used:
| Volevo che tu venissi a casa mia. | I wanted you to come to my house. |
| Mi ha rattristato che non mi chiamassero. | It made me sad that they didn’t call me. |
2. Unlikely or Hypothetical Conditional Statements.
As discussed previously, conditional statements that contain hypothetical or unlikely assumptions, such as “if I were you,” “if I were the president,” and “if I had a lot of money,” use the imperfect subjunctive, for example:
| Se fossi in te, oggi non andrei in palestra. | If I were you, I wouldn’t go to the gym today. |
| Se avessi molti soldi, comprerei un palazzo. | If I had a lot of money, I would buy a palace. |
Next: Pluperfect Indicative Tense
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