Learn how to use the Italian imperfect subjunctive
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Cristiano: Ciao a tutti. |
| Cinzia: Ciao, sono la vostra Consuelo. Lower intermediate series, season 2, Lesson 7. I Thought You Were Buying Shoes in Italy Today. |
| Cristiano: Hello everyone. I am Cristiano and welcome to italianpod101. |
| Cinzia: With us, you will learn to speak Italian with fun and effective lessons. |
| Cristiano: We also provide you with cultural insights |
| Cinzia: And tips you won’t find in a textbook. In this lesson, we will see the imperfect subjunctive conjugations of essere, avere along with regular verbs of the three conjugations. |
| Cristiano: This conversation takes place outside Mario’s workplace |
| Cinzia: And it’s between Mario, Beppe and Giulia. |
| Cristiano: They are friends. Therefore, they will be speaking informally. |
| Cinzia: Now before we listen to the conversation |
| Cristiano: We want to ask |
| Cinzia: Do you read the lesson notes while you listen? |
| Cristiano: We received an email about this study tip. |
| Cinzia: So, we were wondering if you’ve tried it and if so, |
| Cristiano: What do you think of it? |
| Cinzia: You can leave us feedback in the comments section of this lesson. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Beppe: Ciao Mario, hai le chiavi? |
| Mario: Ciao. Certo. Scusami del ritardo, pensavo aprissi tu. |
| Beppe: Pensavo anch’io di aprire, ma ho dimenticato a casa le chiavi. |
| Mario: Sei il solito smemorato. Ora apro. |
| Beppe: Ciao Giulia, come stai? |
| Giulia: Bene, e tu? |
| Beppe: Non c’è male. |
| Giulia: Avrete molti clienti oggi? |
| Beppe: Speriamo, ultimamente il lavoro è diminuito. |
| Cristiano: Let’s here it slowly now. |
| Beppe: Ciao Mario, hai le chiavi? |
| Mario: Ciao. Certo. Scusami del ritardo, pensavo aprissi tu. |
| Beppe: Pensavo anch’io di aprire, ma ho dimenticato a casa le chiavi. |
| Mario: Sei il solito smemorato. Ora apro. |
| Beppe: Ciao Giulia, come stai? |
| Giulia: Bene, e tu? |
| Beppe: Non c’è male. |
| Giulia: Avrete molti clienti oggi? |
| Beppe: Speriamo, ultimamente il lavoro è diminuito. |
| Cristiano: And now, with the translation. |
| Beppe: Ciao Mario, hai le chiavi? |
| Beppe: Hi, Mario. Do you have the keys? |
| Mario: Ciao. Certo. Scusami del ritardo, pensavo aprissi tu. |
| Mario: Hi. Sure. Sorry for the delay, I thought you were going to open. |
| Beppe: Pensavo anch’io di aprire, ma ho dimenticato a casa le chiavi. |
| Beppe: I also thought I’d open, but I forgot the keys at home. |
| Mario: Sei il solito smemorato. Ora apro. |
| Mario: You’re the usual absentminded person. Let me open. |
| Beppe: Ciao Giulia, come stai? |
| Beppe: Hi, Giulia. How are you? |
| Giulia: Bene, e tu? |
| Giulia: Fine, and you? |
| Beppe: Non c’è male. |
| Beppe: Not bad. |
| Giulia: Avrete molti clienti oggi? |
| Giulia: Will you have many customers today? |
| Beppe: Speriamo, ultimamente il lavoro è diminuito. |
| Beppe: I hope so. Lately, business has decreased. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Cristiano: Also Italy has been hit by the global crisis. Hasn’t it? |
| Cinzia: Yes it has. Newspapers always talk about the crisis. |
| Cristiano: Also on television, there are countless special reports on the subject. |
| Cinzia: Let’s hope it ends soon. |
| Marco: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: The first word we shall see is |
| Cinzia: Ritardo. |
| Cristiano: Delay, lateness. |
| Cinzia: Ritardo. Ritardo. |
| Cristiano: And the next word is |
| Cinzia: Solito. |
| Cristiano: Usual, common. |
| Cinzia: Solito. Solito. |
| Cristiano: And next we have |
| Cinzia: Smemorato. |
| Cristiano: Forgetful, absentminded. |
| Cinzia: Smemorato. Smemorato. |
| Cristiano: And next we have |
| Cinzia: Cliente. |
| Cristiano: Customer, client, guest. |
| Cinzia: Cliente. Cliente. |
| Cristiano: And the next word is |
| Cinzia: Ultimamente. |
| Cristiano: Lately, off late. |
| Cinzia: Ultimamente. Ultimamente. |
| Cristiano: And the last word we have is |
| Cinzia: Diminuire. |
| Cristiano: To diminish, decrease, reduce, lower. |
| Cinzia: Diminuire. Diminuire. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Cinzia: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Cristiano: The first word we will look at is |
| Cinzia: Ritardo. To be late. |
| Cristiano: Hey Consuelo, I am sorry but I will use today’s word immediately. Today I was really late, ero in ritardo. |
| Cinzia: Don’t worry Christiano. It’s the word that we Italians sadly know pretty well. |
| Cristiano: Another word we could relate to it is smemorato, forgetful. |
| Cinzia: Yes, sono uno smemorato. I am forgetful. |
| Cristiano: There are a lot of reasons for being smemorato. Now when it happens frequently, we say it may be due to the spring or a new love. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Cinzia: I like this word. Let’s take a look at today’s grammar point. |
| Marco: The focus of this lesson is the Italian imperfect subjunctive. |
| Cinzia: We use the congiuntivo imperfetto, |
| Cristiano: Imperfect subjective, |
| Cinzia: When the verb of the main clause is conjugated in any past indicative tense and the action of the secondary clause takes place simultaneously. |
| Cristiano: For instance, let’s review some sentences. |
| Cinzia: Pensavo che voi arrivaste in tempo. |
| Cristiano: I thought you arrived on time. |
| Cinzia: Malgrado fosse tardi sono andati a ballare. |
| Cristiano: Even though it was late, they went dancing. |
| Cinzia: Sebbene non ne avessi voglia, ho bevuto un caffè. |
| Cristiano: Although I didn’t feel like doing it, I drank coffee. Let us now see the subjunctive conjugation of the three conjugations of regular verbs. |
| Cinzia: Essere |
| Cristiano: To be and |
| Cinzia: Avere |
| Cristiano: To have. |
| Cinzia: Essere |
| Cristiano: To be. |
| Cinzia: Che io fossi |
| Cristiano: I was. |
| Cinzia: Che tu fossi |
| Cristiano: You were. |
| Cinzia: Che lui/lei fosse |
| Cristiano: He/she/it was. |
| Cinzia: Che noi fossimo |
| Cristiano: We were. |
| Cinzia: Che voi foste |
| Cristiano: You were. |
| Cinzia: Che loro fossero |
| Cristiano: They were. |
| Cinzia: Avere |
| Cristiano: To have. |
| Cinzia: Che io avessi |
| Cristiano: I had. |
| Cinzia: Che tu avessi |
| Cristiano: You had. |
| Cinzia: Che lui/lei avesse |
| Cristiano: He/she/it had. |
| Cinzia: Che noi avessimo |
| Cristiano: We had. |
| Cinzia: Che voi aveste |
| Cristiano: You had. |
| Cinzia: Che loro avessero |
| Cristiano: They had. First conjugation |
| Cinzia: Comprare. |
| Cristiano: To buy. |
| Cinzia: Che io comprassi |
| Cristiano: I bought. |
| Cinzia: Che tu comprassi |
| Cristiano: You bought. |
| Cinzia: Che lui/lei comprasse |
| Cristiano: He/she/it bought. |
| Cinzia: Che noi comprassimo |
| Cristiano: We bought. |
| Cinzia: Che voi compraste |
| Cristiano: You bought. |
| Cinzia: Che loro comprassero |
| Cristiano: They bought. Second conjugation. |
| Cinzia: Credere |
| Cristiano: To believe, maintain. |
| Cinzia: Che io credessi |
| Cristiano: I believed. |
| Cinzia: Che tu credessi |
| Cristiano: You believed. |
| Cinzia: Che lui/lei credesse |
| Cristiano: He/she/it believed. |
| Cinzia: Che noi credessimo |
| Cristiano: We believed. |
| Cinzia: Che voi credeste |
| Cristiano: You believed. |
| Cinzia: Che loro credessero |
| Cristiano: They believed. And finally we have the third conjugation. |
| Cinzia: Dormire |
| Cristiano: To sleep. |
| Cinzia: Che io dormissi |
| Cristiano: I slept. |
| Cinzia: Che tu dormissi |
| Cristiano: You slept. |
| Cinzia: Che lui/lei dormisse |
| Cristiano: He/she/it slept. |
| Cinzia: Che noi dormissimo |
| Cristiano: We slept. |
| Cinzia: Che voi dormiste |
| Cristiano: You slept. |
| Cinzia: Che loro dormissero |
| Cristiano: They slept. |
Outro |
| Cristiano: That just about does it for today. |
| Cinzia: Ready to test what you just learned. |
| Cristiano: Make these lessons vocabulary stick by using lesson specific flashcards in the learning center. |
| Cinzia: There is a reason everyone uses flashcards. |
| Cristiano: They work. |
| Cinzia: They really do help in memorization. |
| Cristiano: You can get the flashcards for this lesson at |
| Cinzia: Italianpod101.com |
| Cristiano: Arrivederci. |
| Cinzia: Ciao. |
Comments
HideLet's practice together in the comments!
Hi Antonette,
Since the main clause have a past tense ("pensavo") we cannot use "siate arrivati", so "Pensavo che arrivaste" is correct.
Also "arrivaste" is subjunctive.
Please let me know if you were referring to a different sentence.
Thank you,
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
Is the first example in correct, and should the subjunctive have been used?ie. Pensavo che siate arrivati?
Hi Brandon,
Thank you for posting!
Yes, I think they'll sound more confident as you move forward :smile:
A presto,
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
What happened to Marco and Cinzia!? They are so funny and I love listening to them every day on my way too and from work.
The two new people seem a bit dry. Perhaps they get better as we move forward....
Hi everyone!
Thank you for posting!
@Seth, Buon appetito! :grin:
@Don(atello), thank you, we will consider your feedback!
Ciao a tutti!
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
It would be helpful if these imperfect subjunctive conjugations were reiterated in the Lesson Material throughout this Lower Intermediate Season 2 section as a study aid.
Grazie mille Ofelia per il tuo aiuto!!! Lo apprezzo molto!!! Ora per un panino....:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:...CIAO!!!
Hi Seth,
"io ero" is the imperfect in the indicative mood, while "io fossi" is the imperfect in the subjunctive mood.
The main difference is that the second one is more common in a dependent clause (like an hypothetical one).
"Io ero stanco" means "I was tired".
"Se io fossi stanco, mi riposerei." means "If I was tired, I would rest".
If you have any example that you want to ask about, please leave a comment!
Hope this helps.
Ciao!
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
MARCO, CONSUELO, CRISTIANO!:smile: Can you help me out please. What is the difference between "io ero" and "io fossi"??? :grin:
Hi Evelyn,
thank you for posting!
Your sentence is perfect.
Both "volere" and "avere voglia" mean "to want", so you can you the one you like most!:thumbsup:
Ciao e Grazie!
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
Hi, I have a question.
In the grammar section, there is a sentence " Sebbene non ne avessi voglia, ho bevuto un caffè."
I didn't understand why it is not " Sebbene non ne volessi, ho bevuto un caffè." ?
Grazie.
Grazie,:shock:
thank you for saying.
Consuelo
Ciao!
penso che ci sia un'errore nel pdf:
"che lui/lei avessi" invece di avesse.
grazie per la lezione. :grin:
Dear GreyWater,
1. "Speriamo" is literally, "we hope". We can often use it to express the meaning of "I hope so" and "let's hope so".
In Italian using "speriamo" would make the listener part of what the speaker is saying. But in English we thought it would not be appropriate, so we kept "I hope"
2. Thanks for pointing that out. I guess it sounds better with "noticeably"
Two questions:
1. Speriamo = "We hope" or perhaps "hopefully". The lesson notes translate this as "I hope so", which I thought was "spero".
2. Sensibilmente is translated as "sensibly". I think it would be better translated as "noticeably" or "appreciably".
Non e' vero?