Il condizionale presente

Vorrei un caffè, per favore.  (I would like a coffee, please)

Non credo che Giulio canterebbe alla festa. (I don’t think Giulio would sing at the party)

Che facciamo stasera? Potremmo andare al cinema. (What are we doing tonight? We could go to the cinema)

We use the present conditional to express a desire, be polite, give advice, make a proposal, and make a hypothesis.

To form the present conditional of regular verbs, start from the infinitive root and add the same endings:

IMPORTANT: Like the future tense, there are several irregular forms in the present conditional.

• Verbs ending in –care / –gare add an –h– to keep the hard c/g sound. For example:

giocare > io giocherei, tu giocheresti…

pagare > io pagherei, tu pagheresti…

• Verbs ending in –ciare, –giare drop the ‘i’. For example: mangiare > io mangerei…
• Fare, Dare, Stare drop the final ‘e’ and add the future endings. For example: io farei, tu daresti, lei starebbe…
• Many verbs (mostly ending in -ere) drop the vowel before the -r-:
  • • Andare > andr-
    • Avere > avr-
    • Cadere > cadr-
    • Dovere > dovr-
    • Potere > potr-
    • Sapere > sapr-
    • Vedere > vedr-
    • Vivere > vivr-

• A handful of verbs have irregular roots connected to their Latin etymology:
  • • Essere > sar-
    • Bere > berr-
    • Rimanere > rimarr-
    • Venire > verr-
    • Volere > vorr-

Il condizionale passato

Giulia ha detto che avrebbe lavorato di meno.  (Giulia said she would have worked less)

Stamattina sono molto stanca. Avrei dovuto dormire di più. (I am very tired this morning. I should have slept more)

Che male alla pancia! Non avrei dovuto mangiare tutta quella cioccolata! (What a stomach ache! I shouldn’t have eaten all that chocolate!)

We use the past conditional to talk about regrets, things that should have or would have happened in the past, and to express a future action in the past.

To form the past conditional of regular and irregular verbs, you have to conjugate the verbs like the passato prossimo of the indicative. You need to use the auxiliary verbs avere or essere in the present conditional plus the past participle of the verb.

IMPORTANT: if the past participle is irregular in the passato prossimo, it is also irregular in the past conditional, like in the model:

I pronomi relativi

Mi piace la tisana allo zenzero che mi ha regalato Giulia.  (I like the ginger tea that Giulia gave me)

Roberta è la professoressa che insegna italiano a Bryn Mawr College. (Roberta is the professor who teaches Italian at Bryn Mawr College)

La ragione per cui ho mal di pancia è che ho mangiato troppa cioccolata ieri! (The reason why I have a stomach ache is that I ate too much chocolate yesterday!)

I figli non sempre fanno quello che gli dicono i genitori. (Children don’t always do what their parents tell them)

We use the relative pronouns che, cui, quello/ciò che to link two sentences together.

IMPORTANT: while in English relative pronouns can be omitted, they are necessary in Italian!

The relative pronouns che, chi, cui, quello/ciò che are invariable in Italian.

IMPORTANT: you cannot use che with a preposition. You always need cui.

Chi means “those who” and is NOT the literal translation of the English relative pronoun “who”. You need to use che in that case.

For example: Roberta è la professoressa che insegna italiano a Bryn Mawr College. (Roberta is the professor who teaches Italian at BMC)

Here is the list of the most common relative pronouns in Italian with their equivalents in English: