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Italian: Perfect (Past) Subjunctive 23/03/11
Italian: Perfect (Past) Subjunctive 23/03/11
Basically, if you are using the present tense of any verb that
requires the use of the subjunctive to describe something that happened
in the past, you need to use the perfect (past) subjunctive.
The usual rules regarding both verb having the same subject apply
to the perfect subjunctive too (i.e. the di + infinitive construction). In this
case, you would use the infinitive of essere/avere (without the final ‘e’ i.e.
esser/aver) + the past principle.
The past subjunctive is also used when a verb in the future tense is
used to refer to an event in the past (Lui penserá che tu abbia mangiato
tutta la pizza – He will think that you ate all of the pizza)
1. I think that you ate too much – Penso che tu abbia mangiato troppo
2. He thinks that I sang very badly – Lui pensa che io abbia cantato
molto male
3. We believe that they left at 9 – Crediamo che loro abbiano partiti/e a 9
4. I don’t believe that he listened – Non credo che lui abbia ascoltato
5. I think that I spoke to Mr. Broheir yesterday – Penso di aver parlato/a
con il Signor Broheir ieri
6. Do you believe that I've been to Brisbane? – Credi che io sia stato/a a
Brisbane
7. You (pl.) think that they drank too much – Pensate che loro abbiano
bevuto troppo
8. I hope that they have studies for the exams – Spera che loro abbiano
studiato per gli esami
9. I'm afraid that she fell over – Temo/Ho paura che lei si caduta
10. The boys think that I've gone to Brisbane – I ragazzi pensano che io
sia andato/a Brisbane
Disjunctive Pronoun
Disjunctive pronouns are mainly used after prepositions (e.g. a;
per; con; di; da). They are as follows:
io → me
tu → te
lui → lui
lei → lei
Lei → Lei
noi → noi
voi → voi
loro → loro
Note that only the ‘io’ an ‘tu’ forms are different to the regular
personal pronouns (i.e. they're easy to remember).
Special IDOPs
Review:
DOPs IDOPs
mi mi
ti ti
lo/la gli/le
ci ci
vi vi
li/le loro
loro – to them/ for them
Loro – to you (pl.)(formal)/ for you (pl.)(formal)
NB: unlike all other DOPs and IDOPs, loro is placed after the verb
(not before it) e.g. Scrivo una lettera ai nonni → Scrivo loro una lettera
Abbiamo comprato una casa per i mieie genitori → Abiamo
comprato loro una casa
DDOPs
Double object pronouns (DDOPs) are used when both a DOP and an
IDOP are used in the same sentence. They express the idea of “it to
me”, “it to you”, “them to me” etc.
Double object pronouns are placed in a SPECIFIC order.
The IDOP is generally placed before the DOP, and BOTH are placed
before the verb.
When placed before a DOP, mi, ti, ci and vi must be modified in the
following way:
mi → me e.g. Darò la rivista a te → Ti la Daró → Te la Daró
– I’ll
ti → te give it to you
ci → ce e.g. Lui manda il messaggio a me → Lui mi lo
manda →
vi → ve Lui me lo manda – He sends it to me
e.g. Mamma prepara i panini per noi → Mamma ci li prepara →
Mamma ce li prepara – Mum prepares them for us.
Loro 19/04/11
As you know, when loro is ised as an IDOP, unlike ALL other DOPs
and IDOPs, it is placed after the verb (e.g. Parlo loro – I speak to them).
This rule also needs to be followed when using it as a DDOP. The Dop will
be placed before the verb, while loro will be placed after the verb.
e.g. Compro la pizza per lui – Gliela compro – I buy it for him/her
When used in the past )perfect) tense, glielo and gliela are
contracted with the conjugated form of avere.
E.g. Ho comprato il libro per Luisa – Glielo’ho comprato – I bought it
for her/him
If you ised gli in place of loro (as outlined above), you need to
follow the sam rules (i.e. glielo – it(m) to them; gliela – it (f) to them
etc.)
Ho Tanto Da Fare
When you want to say that there is a lot of something to do, to eat, to
see etc. or that there is nothing/not much to do, to eat, to see etc., you
used the following construction:
Da+infinitve
e.g. Ho tanto da fare – I have so much to learn
Ho molto da imparare – I have a lot to learn
C’é troppo da studiare – There’s too much to study
Vorrei qualcosa da mangiare – I’d like something to eat
Posso avere qualcosa da bere? – May I have something to drink?
Non c’é niente da mangiare nel frigo -
ITALIAN TUTORIALS 05/03/2011
NB: Although these two expressions both mean exactly the same thing
(i.e. as…as…), you cannot mix up the different elements of each
expression (i.e. you cannot and must not say cosí… quanto or tanto…
come).
Comparing Nouns:
When comparing nouns (stating that they are equal), only tanto…quanto
can be sued. Note that this situation, tanto must agree with the noun that
it describes (but quanto does not change).
NB: When both tanto and quanto are followed by nouns, both must agree
with the noun that they describe.
Comparisons:
Comparisons of adjectives: piú, meno, il (i,la,le), piú, meno, -issimo
forms, special forms.
To say that something is the most or leasr of a group, the expression il (i,
la, le) piú (meno) … di… is used.
e.g. Luigi é il piú alto della classe – Luigi is the tallest in the class
Deborah é la meno difficile di tutte – Debra is the lest difficult of all
NOTE: When di combines with the definite articles, the forms are del,
dei, della, delle, dello, degli, dell’
The suffix –issimo is added to most adjectives to express the idea of very.
Comparatives of inequality:
piú…di; piú…che – more than
meno…di; meno…che – less than
Imperfect Tense
-are -ere -ire
avo evo ivo
avi evi ivi
ava eva iva
aviamo eviamo iviamo
avate evate ivate
avano evano ivano
essere avere
ero avaevo
eri avevi
era aveva
eravamo avevamo
eravate avavate
erano avevano
Future Tense
-are -ere -ire
eró eró iró
erai erai irai
erá erá irá
eremo eremo iremo
erete erete irete
eranno eranno iranno
Future Perfect
essere avere
saró avró
sarai avrai
sará avrá
saremo avremo
sarete avrete
saranno avranno
Imperative
-are -ere -ire
a i i
i a a
aimo iam iamo
ate ete ite
ino ano ano
essere avere
sii abbi
sia abia
siamo abiamo
siate abbiate
siano abbiano
Gerund
Are – ando
Ere – endo
Ire – endo
Conditional
-are -ere -ire
erei erei irei
eresti eresti iresti
erebbe erebbe irebbe
eremmo eremmo iremmo
ereste ereste ireste
erebbero erebbero irebbero
essere avere
sarei avrei
saresti avresti
sarebbe avrebbe
saremmo avremmo
sareste avrete
sarebbero avrebbero
Progressive
Stare+gerund = present
Stava+gerund=past
Perfect Subjunctive
essere avere
sia abbia
sia abbia
sia abbia
siamo abbiamo
siete abbiate
siano abianno
Imperfect Subjunctive
-are -ere -ire
assi essi issi
assi essi issi
asse esse isse
assimo essimo issimo
aste este iste
assero essero issero
essere avere
fossi avessi
fossi avessi
fosse avesse
fossimo avessimo
foste aveste
fossero avessero