Learn how to use the Italian pluperfect subjunctive
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Consuelo: Ciao. |
| Marco: Marco here. Lower intermediate series, season 2, Lesson 8. I Didn’t Know You Had Brought Other Girls in Italy. |
| Consuelo: Hello everyone. I am Consuelo and welcome to italianpod101. |
| Marco: With us, you will learn to speak Italian with fun and effective lessons. |
| Consuelo: We also provide you with cultural insights |
| Marco: And tips you won’t find in a textbook. In this lesson, we will see the congiuntivo trapassato, pluperfect subjunctive. |
| Consuelo: This conversation takes place in front of Mario’s workplace. |
| Marco: And it’s between Giulia and Mario. |
| Consuelo: They are brother and sister. Therefore, they will be speaking informally. |
| Marco: Now if you are listening on an iPod |
| Consuelo: Or an iTouch or iPhone. |
| Marco: Click the center button of the iPod or tap the screen on an iTouch or iPhone to see the notes for this lesson while you listen. |
| Consuelo: Read along while you listen. |
| Marco: This technique will help you remember faster. Okay let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Mario: Questa sera chiami mamma? |
| Giulia: Sì, anche se speravo fosse rimasta a casa, volevo vederla. |
| Mario: Anche lei vorrebbe vederti più spesso. |
| Giulia: Se avessi saputo che usciva, sarei partita prima dal supermercato. |
| Mario: Non ti preoccupare, se la chiami sarà contenta. |
| Giulia: Ti lascio al tuo lavoro. |
| Mario: Ciao. |
| Marco: Let’s here it slowly now. |
| Mario: Questa sera chiami mamma? |
| Giulia: Sì, anche se speravo fosse rimasta a casa, volevo vederla. |
| Mario: Anche lei vorrebbe vederti più spesso. |
| Giulia: Se avessi saputo che usciva, sarei partita prima dal supermercato. |
| Mario: Non ti preoccupare, se la chiami sarà contenta. |
| Giulia: Ti lascio al tuo lavoro. |
| Mario: Ciao. |
| Marco: And now, with the translation. |
| Mario: Questa sera chiami mamma? |
| Mario: Are you going to call Mother this evening? |
| Giulia: Sì, anche se speravo fosse rimasta a casa, volevo vederla. |
| Giulia: Yes. Even though I hoped she had stayed at home, I wanted to see her. |
| Mario: Anche lei vorrebbe vederti più spesso. |
| Mario: She’d also like to see you more often. |
| Giulia: Se avessi saputo che usciva, sarei partita prima dal supermercato. |
| Giulia: If I had known she was going out, I would have left the supermarket earlier. |
| Mario: Non ti preoccupare, se la chiami sarà contenta. |
| Mario: Don’t worry; if you call her, she’ll be happy. |
| Giulia: Ti lascio al tuo lavoro. |
| Giulia: I’ll leave you to your work. |
| Mario: Ciao. |
| Mario: Bye. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Marco: One of the most common phrases that mothers say to their grownup kids, after not having seen them for a while, is |
| Consuelo: Stai mangiando? or Mangi abbastanza? |
| Marco: Are you eating or are you eating enough. |
| Consuelo: I guess they want to see them fat. |
| Marco: Don’t they all…Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: The first word we shall see is |
| Consuelo: Sperare. |
| Marco: To hope. |
| Consuelo: Sperare. Sperare. |
| Marco: And the next word is |
| Consuelo: Rimanere. |
| Marco: To stay, remain. |
| Consuelo: Rimanere. Rimanere |
| Marco: And the next word is |
| Consuelo: Prima. |
| Marco: Earlier. |
| Consuelo: Prima. Prima |
| Marco: And next we have |
| Consuelo: Preoccuparsi. |
| Marco: To worry. |
| Consuelo: Preoccuparsi. Preoccuparsi. |
| Marco: And next we have |
| Consuelo: Contento. |
| Marco: Happy, content. |
| Consuelo: Contento. Contento. |
| Marco: And today’s last word is |
| Consuelo: Lavoro. |
| Marco: Work, job. |
| Consuelo: Lavoro. Lavoro. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Marco: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Consuelo: The first word we will look at is supermercato. |
| Marco: Supermarket. Recently supermarkets are everywhere in Italy but some time ago, there was a different type of shop that was called |
| Consuelo: Latteria. |
| Marco: It’s like a small supermarket like a sort of convenient store. The difference is it is not open 24 hours a day but it has a very familiar atmosphere. It used to be a |
| Consuelo: Family owned business. |
| Marco: So there were some very, very cute old people behind the counter helping us young people get I don’t know the chocolates and stuff like that. |
| Consuelo: Yes that’s a pity that we don’t have it any more in Italy. |
| Marco: And the difference between supermercato and latteria is that latteria started as a place where you bought |
| Consuelo: Latte. |
| Marco: Milk, and then it became where you could buy bread and other daily necessities. |
| Consuelo: I miss those times. |
| Marco: But you are so young. |
| Consuelo: Yes I know. But in Firenze traditions live longer. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Marco: Let’s take a look at the grammar point for this lesson. The focus of this lesson is the Italian pluperfect subjunctive. |
| Consuelo: Se avessi saputo che usciva sarei partita prima dal supermercato. |
| Marco: If I had known she was going out, I would have left the supermarket earlier. We use the congiuntivo trapassato, the pluperfect subjunctive, when the verb of the main clause is conjugated in any past indicative tense and the action of the secondary clause has taken place before it. For example |
| Consuelo: Sebbene non avessi studiato passai l’esame. |
| Marco: Even though I hadn’t studied, I passed the exam. |
| Consuelo: Speravo che Luisa avesse voluto venire con te. |
| Marco: I hope Luisa had wanted to come with you. |
| Consuelo: Ero contenta che voi aveste ritrovato il vostro portafoglio. |
| Marco: I was happy you’d found your wallet. |
| Consuelo: The syntax of the pluperfect subjunctive is the following. |
| Marco: Imperfect subjunctive of the auxiliary verb, either essere or avere, plus pluperfect participle of the main verb. |
| Consuelo: We are now going to see the pluperfect subjunctive conjugations of essere. |
| Marco: To be |
| Consuelo: Avere |
| Marco: To have |
| Consuelo: And the three conjugations of regular verbs. |
| Marco: Here we go. |
| Consuelo: Essere |
| Marco: To be. |
| Consuelo: Congiuntivo trapassato |
| Marco: Pluperfect subjunctive. |
| Consuelo: Che io fossi stato |
| Marco: I had been. |
| Consuelo: Che tu fossi stato |
| Marco: You had been. |
| Consuelo: Che lui fosse stato |
| Marco: He had been. |
| Consuelo: Che lei fosse stata |
| Marco: She had been. |
| Consuelo: Che noi fossimo stati |
| Marco: We had been. |
| Consuelo: Che voi foste stati |
| Marco: You had been. |
| Consuelo: Che loro fossero stati |
| Marco: They had been. |
| Consuelo: Avere |
| Marco: To have. |
| Consuelo: Congiuntivo trapassato. |
| Marco: Pluperfect subjunctive. |
| Consuelo: Che io avessi avuto |
| Marco: I had had. |
| Consuelo: Che tu avessi avuto |
| Marco: You had had. |
| Consuelo: Che lui/lei avesse avuto |
| Marco: He/she/it had had. |
| Consuelo: Che noi avessimo avuto |
| Marco: We had had. |
| Consuelo: Che voi aveste avuto |
| Marco: You had had. |
| Consuelo: Che loro avessero avuto |
| Marco: They had had. First, second, third conjugations using the auxiliary |
| Consuelo: Essere |
| Marco: To be. The verb we should see is |
| Consuelo: Stare |
| Marco: To stay. |
| Consuelo: Congiuntivo trapassato |
| Marco: Pluperfect subjunctive. |
| Consuelo: Che io fossi stato |
| Marco: I had stayed. |
| Consuelo: Che tu fossi stato |
| Marco: You had stayed. |
| Consuelo: Che lui fosse stato |
| Marco: He had stayed. |
| Consuelo: Che lei fosse stata |
| Marco: She had stayed. |
| Consuelo: Che noi fossimo stati |
| Marco: We had stayed. |
| Consuelo: Che voi foste stati |
| Marco: You had stayed. |
| Consuelo: Che loro fossero stati |
| Marco: They had stayed. Now we should see the auxiliary |
| Consuelo: Avere |
| Marco: To have using as example the verb |
| Consuelo: Amare |
| Marco: To love. |
| Consuelo: Congiuntivo trapassato. |
| Marco: Pluperfect subjunctive. |
| Consuelo: Che io avessi amato |
| Marco: I had loved. |
| Consuelo: Che tu avessi amato |
| Marco: You had loved. |
| Consuelo: Che lui/lei avesse amato |
| Marco: He/she/it had loved. |
| Consuelo: Che noi avessimo amato |
| Marco: We had loved. |
| Consuelo: Che voi aveste amato |
| Marco: You had loved. |
| Consuelo: Che loro avessero amato |
| Marco: They had loved. |
Outro |
| Marco: That just about does it for today. Okay some of our listeners already know about the most powerful tool on italianpod101.com |
| Consuelo: Line by line audio. |
| Marco: The perfect tool for rapidly improving listening comprehension. |
| Consuelo: By listening to lines of the conversation again and again. |
| Marco: Listen until every word and syllable becomes clear. Basically, we break down the dialogue into comprehensible bite size sentences. |
| Consuelo: You can try the line by line audio in the premium learning center at italianpod101.com |
| Marco: Ciao. |
| Consuelo: Ciao. |
Comments
Hide