How to use as long as?
There are different ways of saying as long as in Italian, but in this post, we’re going to focus on the more colloquial one.
Have a look at the example: You can have a dog as long as you promise to take care of it.
We could also say: You can have a dog only if you promise to take care of it.
As you can see, we’re talking about an expression that introduces a condition. If that condition is not met, then something won’t happen. It’s the same in Italian.
How to use sempre che in Italian?
In Italian, what you’ll hear more often among people speaking is sempre che.
The structure is sempre che + present subjunctive.
Don’t try to translate it literally because it doesn’t make sense.
Let’s rather have a look at an example:
Puoi venire anche tu, sempre che ti comporti bene.
You can come too, as long as you behave well.
As you can see, we’re talking about a condition.
If we want to use it negatively, we can simply add the word non to the sentence:
- sempre che + non + present subjunctive
Puoi venire anche tu, sempre che non ti comporti male.
You can come too, as long as you don’t behave badly.
If you don’t know or don’t remember how to form the present subjunctive, read the following section. If you do, then skip to the following section.
How to form the present subjunctive?
To form the present of the subjunctive of regular verbs in Italian, you have to keep the root of the verb in the present indicative (parl-, ved-, part-) and add the correct endings, which are in bold in the table below:
| parlare | vedere | partire | |
| io | parli | veda | parta |
| tu | parli | veda | parta |
| lui/lei | parli | veda | parta |
| noi | parliamo | vediamo | partiamo |
| voi | parliate | vediate | partiate |
| loro | parlino | vedano | partano |
Here’s the present subjunctive of the most common irregular verbs:
| Essere
(to be) |
Avere (to have) |
Venire (to come) |
Andare (to go) |
Volere (to want) |
| io sia | io abbia | io venga | io vada | io voglia |
| tu sia | tu abbia | tu venga | tu vada | tu voglia |
| lui / lei sia | lui /lei abbia | lui /lei venga | lui /lei vada | lui /lei voglia |
| noi siamo | noi abbiamo | noi veniamo | noi andiamo | noi vogliamo |
| voi siate | voi abbiate | voi veniate | voi andiate | voi vogliate |
| loro siano | loro abbiano | loro vengano | loro vadano | loro vogliano |
Sempre che: examples
Let’s now have a look at some more examples:
Partiremo domani, sempre che non piova.
We’ll leave tomorrow as long as it doesn’t rain.
Sempre che tu sia d’accordo, potremmo rimanere un po’ di più.
As long as you agree, we could stay a little more.
Parleremo con loro sempre che vengano.
We’ll speak to them as long as they come.
Verrò a trovarvi, sempre che voi siate a casa.
I’ll come to see you as long as you’re home.
Va bene sempre che sia vero.
It’s ok as long as it’s true.
Rimedieremo, sempre che voglia parlare.
We’ll make up as long as you want to talk.
