The Subjunctive Mood in Italian
The subjunctive mood in Italian, known as congiuntivo, is commonly used in dependent clauses that are introduced by certain conjunctions and expressions, specifically to express:
- a doubt
- a desire
- a necessity
- a possibility
It has four tenses: present, past, imperfect, and past perfect. Here, I will focus on the past perfect subjunctive only.
There are articles dedicated to the regular present subjunctive, irregular present subjunctive, past subjunctive, and imperfect subjunctive too, so go check them out!
Past Perfect Subjunctive in Italian
Conjugation
The Italian congiuntivo trapassato (past perfect subjunctive) is a compound verb. This means that it is composed of the auxiliary verb, either essere or avere and the past participle of the main verb.
As in all compound verbs, the auxiliary verb goes in the corresponding simple tense of that mood. This means that in order for you to conjugate the past perfect subjunctive in Italian, you must know the conjugation of essere and avere in the imperfect subjunctive.
Let me remind you these conjugations:
Avere
| io | avessi |
| tu | avessi |
| lui / lei | avesse |
| noi | avessimo |
| voi | aveste |
| loro | avessero |
Essere
| io | fossi |
| tu | fossi |
| lui / lei | fosse |
| noi | fossimo |
| voi | foste |
| loro | fossero |
Pensavo che loro fossero partite la scorsa settimana.
I thought they had left last week.
Credevo che voi aveste già finito i compiti.
I thought you had already finished your homework.
Non sapevamo che voi aveste comprato casa.
We didn’t know you had bought a house.
Mi sembrava che non vi foste divertiti alla festa.
It seemed to me that you didn’t have fun at the party.
Remember that avere and essere respectively go with transitive and intransitive verbs and that past participles with the auxiliary essere change according to gender and number of the subject
Also remember that reflexive verbs always select the auxiliary essere!
The past participle of regular verbs, as usual, is formed as follows:
- Past participles of -are verbs end in –ato
- Past participles of -ere verbs end in -uto
- Past participles of -ire verbs end in -ito
Let me show you some examples of the three conjugations:
- Verbs ending in -are
- Ballare (to dance): ballato
- Lavorare (to work): lavorato
- Verbs ending in -ere
- Credere (to believe): creduto
- Sapere (to know): saputo
- Verbs ending in -ire
- Capire (to understand): capito
- Dormire (to sleep): dormito
The past participle of some irregular ones, instead, is as follows:
- aprire (to open) – aperto
- bere (to drink) – bevuto
- chiedere (to ask) – chiesto
- dire (to say) – detto
- fare (to do) – fatto
- leggere (to read) – letto
- perdere (to lose/to miss) –perso
- rompere(to break) – rotto
- scrivere (to write) – scritto
- stare (to stay) – stato
- venire (to come) – venuto
- vedere (to see) – visto
Avevo paura che tu avessi perso l’aereo.
I was scared you might have missed your flight.
Pensavamo che tu fossi già stata in Francia.
We thought you had already been to France.
When to use Congiuntivo Trapassato
As you might know already, unlike other verb tenses, the Italian congiuntivo is always found in dependent clauses, which means it can never stand alone and always depends on the main clause it depends on.
This is the reason why it’s usually preceded by the conjunction che or se.
In Italian, we use the congiuntivo trapassato in the following cases:
- To express doubt, uncertainty, or possibility:
Credevo che lui avesse passato l’esame.
I thought he had passed the exam.
Cercavo qualcuno che avesse già lavorato in questo settore.
I was looking for someone who had already worked in this sector.
- To express desire or hope:
Speravo che avessi preparato un dolce.
I hoped you had baked a cake.
- To express if-clause of the third type:
Se avessi saputo che eri in città, ti avrei chiamato.
If I had known you were in town, I would have called you.
Introductory Phrases
Each tense of the congiuntivo mood is introduced by specific introductory verbs or phrases in a specific verb tense.
In the case of congiuntivo trapassato, these verbs are conjugated in the imperfetto (and sometimes passato prossimo). This is because we use this verb tense when we are speaking in the past about past actions.
Here are some of the possible introductory verbs you can find and use. Of course, there are many more, as long as they vehiculate doubts, uncertainty, etc…
- Pensare (to think)
- Credere (to believe)
- Sperare (to hope)
- Essere possibile che (to be possible that)
- Sembrare che (to seems that/like)
Let me give you some more examples:
Pensavo che Sofia fosse già arrivata.
I though Sofia had already arrived.
Ti sei fatto male? Ho avuto paura che ti fossi rotto il braccio.
Did you hurt yourself? I was afraid you broke your arm.
