To round off our series on the congiuntivo here’s a quiz. Don’t get disheartened, the Italian subjunctive is very difficult. In fact, many Italians don’t even know how to use it!

Each section below corresponds to one of our 5 blogs on the subjunctive. Clicking on the section title will take you to the appropriate post. At the beginning of each of the sentences is a verb (e.g. Verb = telefonare:). This is the verb that you need to put into its appropriate subjunctive tense in order to complete the Italian phrase.

“Se io abitassi ancora in Inghilterra potrei spendere più tempo con mia mamma …”
Geoff with his mother whilst on holiday in the UK.

1. Present Tense, Regular Verbs

Verb = telefonare: Lucia vuole che le ____ dopo le cinque = Lucia wants you to phone her after five o’clock
Verb = finire: Speriamo che la festa ____ presto = Let’s hope the party will finish early
Verb = servirsi:____ pure, Signor Rossi = Help yourself, Mr. Rossi
Verb = riuscire: E’ difficile che Mario e Giovanna ____ ad arrivare in tempo = it’s unlikely that Mario and Giovanna will manage to get here in time

2. Present Tense, Irregular Verbs

Verb = fare: Speriamo che non ____ troppo caldo al mare = Let’s hope it won’t be too hot at the seaside
Verb = dire: Bisogna che tu mi ____ a che ora arriverai = You need to tell me at what time you’ll arrive
Verb = essere: Dobbiamo affrettarci affinché ____ tutto pronto per domani mattina = We have to hurry in order to get everything ready for tomorrow morning

3. Perfect Tense

Verb = ricordarsi: Spero che Mario _______ di comprare il pane = I hope Mario remembered to buy the bread
Verb = piacere: Pensi che a Lucia _______ il regalo? = Do you think Lucia liked the present?
Verb = cominciare: Dubito che ____ già ____ a mangiare = I doubt that they’ve already started eating
Verb = piovere: Sembra che qui non ______ affatto = It seems that it hasn’t rained here at all
Verb = cadere: E’ probabile che le chiavi ______ dalla borse mentre pagavi = It’s likely that the keys fell out of the bag while you were paying
Verb = andare: Sebbene io ______ a letto tardi, mi sono svegliata presto = Even though I went to bed late, I woke up early

4. Imperfect Tense

Verb = aiutare: Speravo che Giulia mi ____ a preparare la cena = I was hoping that Giulia would help me to prepare dinner
Verb = andare: Credevamo che Mario ____ in Grecia per le vacanze = We thought that Mario was going to Greece for his holidays
Verb = girare: Bastava che ____ l’angolo e avreste trovato una gelateria = You (plural) only needed to turn the corner and you would have found an ice-cream parlour
Verb = rinunciare: Non era giusto che Maria ____ alla sua solita passeggiata domenicale = It was unfair that Maria had to give up her usual Sunday walk
Verb = piovere: Abbiamo continuato a camminare benché ____ = We carried on walking even though it was raining
Verb = avere: Se ____ un milione di euro mi comprerei una casa al mare = If I had a million Euro I’d buy a house at the seaside

5. Pluperfect Tense

Verb = partire: Pensavamo che tu ____ già ____ = We thought that you’d already left
Verb = dimenticarsi: Temevo che Mario ______ di comprare il pane = I was afraid that Mario had forgotten to buy the bread
Verb = andare: Sembrava che tutto______ secondo il piano = It seemed that everything had gone according to plan
Verb = avere: Era inverosimile che Mario______ un’idea così originale! = It was extremely unlikely that Mario had had such an original idea!
Verb = esserci: Ti avrei telefonato solo nel caso che ______ un cambio di programma = I would have only called you in case there had been a change of plan
Verb = lasciare: Se ______ la macchina lì adesso sarebbe all’ombra = If we had left the car there it would be in shade now

We’ll publish the solutions on Friday. Buon divertimento!