In this article you’ll find an overview of the Italian past conditional, how is formed, and its uses. Below are the main points about it, but other articles are yet to come.
- WHAT IS CONDIZIONALE PASSATO?
- WHEN DO WE USE CONDIZIONALE PASSATO?
- HOW TO FORM CONDIZIONALE PASSATO?
- CONDIZIONALE PASSATO WITH AVERE
- CONDIZIONALE PASSATO WITH ESSERE & THE PAST PARTICIPLE ACCORDANCE
1 WHAT IS CONDIZIONALE PASSATO?
Condizionale passato is a verb tense used to talk about something that would have, could have or should have happened in the past.
Avrei voluto studiare medicina. I wish I COULD HAVE studied medicine.
Se avessi saputo, sarei venuto prima. If I had known, I WOULD HAVE come sooner.
Avresti dovuto svegliarti prima. You SHOULD HAVE woken up earlier.
2 WHEN DO WE USE CONDIZIONALE PASSATO?
You use the Italian past conditional in the following cases:
HYPOTHETICAL PAST: Con più studio, avrei superato l’esame. With more study, I would have passed the exam.
REGRETS AND MISSED OPPORTUNITIES: Avrei dovuto telefonarle prima. I should have called her earlier.
UNFULFILLED WISHES AND DESIRES: Avrei voluto visitare il Giappone. I would have liked to visit Japan.
EXPRESSING THE ”FUTURE IN THE PAST” **in this case, the WOULD construction is used. Ha detto che sarebbe tornato presto. He said he would come back soon.
UNVERIFIED PAST INFORMATION: Secondo i media, il ladro sarebbe fuggito all’estero. According to the media, the thief allegedly fled abroad
POLITE PAST REPROACH OR SOFT CRITICISM: Avresti potuto dirmelo prima! You could have told me earlier!
3 HOW TO FORM CONDIZIONALE PASSATO?
The past conditional is made of two elements: the CONDIZIONALE PRESENTE of the auxiliary(ESSERE or AVERE) plus the PAST PARTICIPLE of the MAIN VERB.
| PRONOUN | AUXILIARY CONDITIONAL | PAST PARTICIPLE | MEANING |
| io | AVREI | mangiato | I would have eaten |
| tu | AVRESTI | mangiato | you would have eaten |
| lei\lui | AVREBBE | mangiato | she\he would have eaten |
| noi | AVREMMO | mangiato | we would have eaten |
| voi | AVRESTE | mangiato | you(all) would have eaten |
| loro | AVREBBERO | mangiato | they would have eaten |
4 CONDIZIONALE PASSATO CON AVERE
All the TRANSITIVE VERBS take the auxiliary AVERE. Transitive verbs are the ones that can take a direct object.
5 CONDIZIONALE PASSATO WITH ESSERE & THE PAST PARTICIPLE ACCORDANCE
Verbs of motion, change of state, reflexive verbs and INTRANSITIVE VERBS use the condizionale presente of ESSERE as the auxiliary. When essere is the auxiliary, the past participle must be accorded in gender and number to the subject.
EXERCISE conjugate correctly the verbs in the brackets and write the answers in the comment section.
1 Milena _____(venire) alla festa, ma era malata. Milena would have come to the party, but she was sick.
2 Le ragazze _____(partire) prima, ma il treno era in ritardo. The girls would have left earlier, but the train was late.
3 _____(tu-dovere) dirmelo subito! You should have told me right away!
4 Ha detto che _____(lei-arrivare) entro le cinque. She said she would arrive by five.
5 Noi non _____(fare) mai una cosa simile. We would never have done such a thing.
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