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Tag Archives: Italian subjunctive

Italian Subjunctive Quiz – The Solutions Posted by on Jun 23, 2017

Allora … com’è andata? Here are the answers to our Italian Subjunctive Quiz. Let’s find out how you got on … 1. Present Tense, Regular Verbs Verb = telefonare: Lucia vuole che le telefoni dopo le cinque = Lucia wants you to phone her after five o’clock Verb = finire: Speriamo che la festa finisca…

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Italian Subjunctive Quiz Posted by on Jun 21, 2017

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…

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The Italian Subjunctive – 5. Pluperfect Tense Posted by on Jun 19, 2017

This is the final article in our series about the subjunctive. Today we’ll be studying il congiuntivo trapassato (the pluperfect subjunctive). Constructing the congiuntivo trapassato The congiuntivo trapassato is used when talking about the past to refer to things that had happened, e.g. ‘I had gone’, ‘you had finished’ etc. In order to construct the…

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The Italian Subjunctive – 1. Present Tense Posted by on Apr 28, 2017

The congiuntivo (subjunctive) is one of the more challenging forms to learn in Italian, especially as it is rarely used in English. The complexity of Italian grammar is also its beauty as it allows for many subtle shades of expression and a wealth of creative possibilities. This is part of the pleasure of mastering the…

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Congiuntivo o Infinito? Posted by on Apr 10, 2017

When learning Italian, students are taught that verbs expressing desires, wishes, worries, doubts, opinions, and beliefs are followed by the subjunctive. If this is the case, then why do we say “spero di finire questo lavoro entro stasera” (“I hope to finish this job by this evening” infinitive) instead of “spero che io finisca questo…

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Il Congiuntivo Dell’Onorevole Posted by on Jan 19, 2017

We all know that il congiuntivo (the subjunctive) is a tricky verbal form to use in Italian, and this is true not only for foreigners, but also for mother tongue Italian speakers. For this reason one’s ability to use the subjunctive or not is a real social class divider, here in Italy. We Italians really…

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Italian Grammar Quiz Posted by on Jan 17, 2014

How many of you made a new years resolution something like this: “This year I’m going to really make an effort to study Italian”? Well here’s a little quiz to give you a kick-start. This quiz highlights some subtle but important grammatical differences. See how many you can solve. 1. It keeps the wind off…

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