Italian 6.5. Pluperfect Subjunctive Tense

In Italian, the pluperfect subjunctive has the following structure:

“avere” or “essere” in the imperfect subjunctive + past participle

Conjugation

Depending on the verb, the pluperfect subjunctive in Italian uses the auxiliary “avere” or “essere” in the imperfect subjunctive, which have the following conjugations:

	“avere” in the imperfect subjunctive	“essere” in the imperfect subjunctive
io	avessi	fossi
tu	avessi	fossi
lui/lei	avesse	fosse
noi	avessimo	fossimo
voi	aveste	foste
loro	avessero	fossero

The pluperfect in the subjunctive mood has different uses than the pluperfect in the indicative mood studied earlier. It is mostly used to describe an event that already happened in the past, but we wish it did not happen or happened differently, or we want to discuss what would happen if we hypothetically changed that past event.

Examples

We will discuss two examples in which the pluperfect subjunctive is used:

1. The pluperfect subjunctive can be used in conditional statements to convey the meaning of the impossible past.

For example:

Se avessi studiato medicina, …	If I had studied medicine, …
Se mio nonno non fosse morto,…	If my grandfather hadn’t died, …

The conditional statements above are usually followed by

• a verb in simple conditional, or
• “would have” + past participle

Se avesse studiato medicina, oggi sarebbe ricco.	If I had studied medicine, I would be rich today.
Se mio nonno non fosse morto, avrei passato del tempo con lui.	If my grandfather hadn’t died, I would have spent time with him.

Another way to describe a hypothetical or impossible past is using the expression “come se,” translated as “as if,” for example:

Parla come se avesse studiato medicina.	He talks as if he had studied medicine.
Pianse come se suo nonno fosse morto.	He cried as if his grandfather had died.

2. The other use of the pluperfect in the subjunctive is similar to that in the indicative mood.

As studied earlier, the pluperfect in the indicative mood describes the past before the simple past.

If a feeling, doubt, or hope is added to the action described in the pluperfect, the subjunctive mood should be used. Let us look at the following examples for comparison:

a) Pluperfect in the indicative mood:

Eri andato in Spagna prima che ci conoscessimo.	You had been to Spain before we met.
Quando sono andato a trovare mia madre, mia sorella era già arrivata.	When I visited my mom, my sister had already arrived.

b) Pluperfect in the subjunctive mood:

Mi piaceva che tu fossi già andato in Spagna prima che ci conoscessimo.	I was delighted that you had already been to Spain before we met.
Quando sono andato a trovare mia madre, dubitavo che mia sorella fosse arrivata.	When I visited my mom, I doubted that my sister had arrived.

Next: Passive Voice & Impersonal “Si”

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