Unità 5 – Grammatica

Il congiuntivo passato

Sembra che gli italiani abbiano riciclato di più l’anno scorso. (It seems that Italians recycled more last year)

Crediamo che sia arrivato il momento per occuparsi del problema climatico. (We believe the time has come to address the climate issue)

È importante che tu abbia manifestato contro l’inquinamento. (It is important that you demonstrated against pollution)

In Italian, we use the past subjunctive to express one’s opinions, thoughts, or desires regarding actions that happened in the past.

As is the case for the present subjunctive, the congiuntivo passato is usually found in subordinate clauses introduced by verbs and impersonal expressions in the present tense of the indicativo. The most common verbs and expressions that trigger the congiuntivo passato are:

• Opinion – credere (to believe), pensare (to think), immaginare (to imagine), avere l’impressione (to be under the impression)
• Desire, hope or fear – volere (to want), preferire (to prefer), sperare (to hope), piacere (to like), temere (to fear), avere paura (to be scared/concerned)
• Uncertainty – non essere sicuro (to be unsure), dubitare (to doubt)
• Mental and emotional states – essere felice (to be happy), essere triste (to be sad), essere deluso (to be disappointed).
• Impersonal verbs: bisogna (it’s necessary), sembra (it seems), pare (it appears)
• Essere + adjective or adverb: è bene (it’s good), è giusto (it’s right), è difficile (it’s difficult), è possibile (it’s possible), è sbagliato (it’s wrong), è strano (it’s strange), è necessario (it’s necessary), è importante (it’s important).

To conjugate a verb in congiuntivo passato you need to use essere or avere in the present subjunctive + the past participle.

Many past participles are irregular!

Il congiuntivo imperfetto

Pensavo che in Italia fosse più facile trovare lavoro. (I thought it was easier to find a job in Italy)

Speravi che ci fosse meno spazzatura nel parco. (You wished there was less trash in the park)

Vorrei che non si utilizzasse più la plastica. (I wish plastic was no longer used)

As for the present and the past subjunctive, congiuntivo imperfetto is usually found in subordinate clauses introduced by verbs and impersonal expressions like credere che, desiderare che, volere che, è bene che, è importante che, etc. However, in this case, the verb in the main clause is in the past tenses of the indicativo or in the conditional.

To form the regular congiuntivo imperfetto, start from the infinitive root and add the following endings:

IMPORTANT:

• The pronouns io and tu have the same ending.
• Verbs that are irregular in the indicativo imperfetto, such as bere, dire and fare, are also irregular in the congiuntivo imperfetto. 

However, there are some verbs such as essere, avere, and dare that are totally irregular in the congiuntivo imperfetto.

Il periodo ipotetico 

Se andassimo a Roma, potremmo partecipare alla protesta per l’ambiente.  (If we went to Rome, we could participate in the protest for the environment)

Se fossi il Presidente della mia nazione, sarei più sensibile alle questioni ambientali. (If I were the President of my country, I would be more sensitive to environmental issues)

Se tu studiassi ecologia, potresti lavorare per Greenpeace. (If you studied ecology, you could work for Greenpeace)

In Italian, like in English, we use the imperfetto congiuntivo combined with the condizionale presente to talk about possible situations that could happen if another event occurred.

To form the hypothetical of a possibility, you will always need an if clause and a then clause: