Italian 5.4. The Conditional Tenses

In this lesson, we cover the conditional tenses in Italian.

One of the two conditional tenses in Italian is the simple conditional tense, which is used to describe a hypothetical situation, express wishes, give advice, or make a polite request. It is similar in its use to the simple conditional tense in English, for example, “I would do the laundry if I had time.”

Conjugation

To form the stem of the verb needed for regular verb conjugation, we drop the final “e” of the verb and change the final “-ar” to “-er” in the case of “-are” verbs. The endings are the same for the three types of verbs.

	-are ending e.g., parlare (to speak)	-ere ending e.g., vendere (to sell)	-ire ending e.g., partire (to leave)
io	parlerei	venderei	partirei
tu	parleresti	venderesti	partiresti
lui/lei	parlerebbe	venderebbe	partirebbe
noi	parleremmo	venderemmo	partiremmo
voi	parlereste	vendereste	partireste
loro	parlerebbero	venderebbero	partirebbero

Irregular Verbs

The same verbs that are irregular in the simple future tense are also irregular in the simple conditional tense. Thus, we summarize these verbs here in a similar fashion:

1. Some verbs, in addition to dropping the final “e,” drop the vowel before the final “r” from the infinitive to form the stem.

For example, the stem from the verb “andare” becomes “andr-” instead of “andar-.” Other examples from this group are: “avere” (to have), “cadere” (to fall), “dovere” (must), “potere” (can), “sapere” (to know), “vedere” (to see), and “vivere” (to live).

	andare andr-	avere avr-	cadere cadr-	dovere dovr-	potere potr-
io	andrei	avrei	cadrei	dovrei	potrei
tu	andresti	avresti	cadresti	dovresti	potresti
lui/lei	andrebbe	avrebbe	cadrebbe	dovrebbe	potrebbe
noi	andremmo	avremmo	cadremmo	dovremmo	potremmo
voi	andreste	avreste	cadreste	dovreste	potreste
loro	andrebbero	avrebbero	cadrebbero	dovrebbero	potrebbero

2. Some short verbs with the “-are” ending do not change the “-ar” to “-er” after dropping the final “e” to form the stem.

The most common verbs in this group are: “dare” (to give), “fare” (to do or to make), and “stare” (to stay or to be).

	dare dar-	fare far-	stare star-
io	darei	farei	starei
tu	daresti	faresti	staresti
lui/lei	darebbe	farebbe	starebbe
noi	daremmo	faremmo	staremmo
voi	dareste	fareste	stareste
loro	darebbero	farebbero	starebbero

3. Some verbs, in addition to dropping the final “e,” replace both the consonant and the vowel preceding the final “r” of the infinitive with an extra “r” to form the stem.

For example, the stem from “tenere” (to hold) is “terr-” instead of “tener-.” The most common verbs in this group are: “tenere” (to hold), “volere” (to want), and “venire” (to come).

	tenere terr-	volere vorr-	venire verr-
io	terrei	vorrei	verrei
tu	terresti	vorresti	verresti
lui/lei	terrebbe	vorrebbe	verrebbe
noi	terremmo	vorremmo	verremmo
voi	terreste	vorreste	verreste
loro	terrebbero	vorrebbero	verrebbero

4. Some verbs are completely irregular, such as “essere” (to be) and “bere” (to drink), whose stems are “sar-” and “berr-,” respectively.

	essere sar-	bere berr-
io	sarei	berrei
tu	saresti	berresti
lui/lei	sarebbe	berrebbe
noi	saremmo	berremmo
voi	sareste	berreste
loro	sarebbero	berrebbero

5. Finally, the same orthographic changes applied to verbs ending in “-care,” “-gare,” “-ciare,” “-giare,” and “-gliare” in the present indicative tense and the simple future tense are applied here to maintain the proper pronunciation.

Examples

Here are some examples that use the simple conditional tense in Italian:

Viaggerei ogni anno se avessi soldi.	I would travel every year if I had money.
Se fossi in te, oggi non andrei in palestra.	If I were you, I wouldn’t go to the gym today.
Se avessi molti soldi, comprerei un palazzo.	If I had a lot of money, I would buy a palace.
Potresti studiare più ore per l’esame.	You could study more hours for the exam.
Potresti passarmi il pepe?	Could you pass me the pepper?
Vivremmo in una piccola città?	Would we live in a small city?
Dormirebbero tutto il giorno se non avessero un lavoro.	They would sleep all day if they didn’t have work.
Direbbe la verità se glielo chiedessero.	He would tell the truth if they asked him.

The Conditional Perfect: “Would/Could/Should have”

To convey the meaning of “would/could/should have …” in Italian, we resort to the conditional perfect tense. The conditional perfect is one of the two conditional tenses in Italian.

“Would have”

“Would have” + past participle = “avere” or “essere” in conditional tense + past participle, for example:

Io l’avrei fatto.	I would have done it.
Loro avrebbero pagato.	They would have paid.
Noi saremmo venuti.	We would have come.

“Could have”

“Could have” + past participle = “avere” or “essere” in conditional tense + “potere” in past participle + infinitive, for example:

Io avrei potuto farlo.	I could have done it.
Loro avrebbero potuto pagare.	They could have paid.
Noi saremmo potuti venire.	We could have come.

“Should have”

“Should have” + past participle = “avere” or “essere” in conditional tense + “dovere” in past participle + infinitive, for example:

Io avrei dovuto farlo.	I should have done it.
Loro avrebbero dovuto pagare.	They should have paid.
Noi saremmo dovuti venire.	We should have come.

Next: Present Subjunctive Tense II

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