{"id":144,"date":"2009-06-03T07:05:34","date_gmt":"2009-06-03T11:05:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=144"},"modified":"2009-06-03T07:05:34","modified_gmt":"2009-06-03T11:05:34","slug":"if-i-could-have-%e2%80%a6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/if-i-could-have-%e2%80%a6\/","title":{"rendered":"If I could have \u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is an old popular Italian song from 1939 called \u2018Mille Lire al Mese\u2019<\/strong>, which somehow seems very appropriate given the present economic climate. The first verse goes:<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Che disperazione, che delusione dover campar,<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

sempre in disdetta, sempre in bolletta!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Ma se un posticino domani cara io trovero\u2019,<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

di gemme d\u2019oro ti copriro\u2019!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Se potessi avere mille lire al mese,<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

senza esagerare, sarei certo di trovar<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

tutta la felicita\u2019!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

What\u00a0despair, what disappointment always <\/span>having to live<\/span><\/p>\n

in disgrace,\u00a0for ever\u00a0in debt!<\/span><\/p>\n

But if tomorrow, my dear,\u00a0I find a little job, <\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll cover you in golden gems!<\/span><\/p>\n

If I could have a thousand lira a month,<\/span><\/p>\n

without exaggeration, I\u2019d be sure of finding<\/span><\/p>\n

complete\u00a0happiness!<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

This song is so poignant today that a modern version of it has been made: se potessi avere mille euro al mese! <\/strong>(if I could have a thousand Euros a month!). But it\u2019s not my intention\u00a0to depress you with news about economics;\u00a0in fact my ulterior motive for mentioning this song is not socio-economic, but<\/span> grammatical<\/span>! Se potessi avere mille lire al mese<\/strong>, <\/strong><\/span>the recurring theme of the song, makes use of a\u00a0verb form\u00a0which has more or less died out in the English language:\u00a0the subjunctive.<\/span><\/p>\n

Il congiuntivo <\/strong>(the subjunctive) is a modo <\/strong>(mood) or verb form that is regularly used in Italian to express wishes, thoughts, and opinions. The Italian subjunctive has four different tempi <\/strong>(tenses): present <\/strong>(present), passato <\/strong>(perfect), imperfetto <\/strong>(imperfect), trapassato <\/strong>(pluperfect).<\/span><\/p>\n

In Italian il congiuntivo imperfetto <\/strong>(the imperfect subjunctive that this song makes use of) is mainly used when talking about an imagined situation,\u00a0and is normally introduced by se <\/strong>(if), e.g. se potessi<\/span> avere mille lire al mese<\/strong> (if I could have a thousand lira a month<\/span>); se vincessi<\/span> la lotteria farei il giro del mondo <\/strong>(if I won the lottery I would travel around the world).\u00a0To complete the sentence i.e. to say what we would do in the imagined situation, we use the conditional just as you do in English, e.g. sarei<\/span> certo di trovare tutta la felicita\u2019<\/strong> (I would be<\/span> sure of finding every happiness); farei<\/span> il giro del mondo <\/strong>(I would travel<\/span> around the world). <\/span><\/p>\n

Il congiuntivo imperfetto <\/strong>is easily recognizable because of its characteristic \u2013ss-<\/strong> after the verb stem, e.g.: <\/span><\/p>\n

Arrivare <\/strong>(to arrive) becomes: io arrivass<\/span>i, tu arrivass<\/span>i, lui arrivass<\/span>e, noi arrivass<\/span>imo, voi arrivaste, loro arrivass<\/span>ero<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Vedere<\/strong> (to see) becomes: io vedess<\/span>i, tu vedess<\/span>i, lui vedess<\/span>e, noi vedess<\/span>imo, voi vedeste, loro vedess<\/span>ero<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Partire <\/strong>(to leave) becomes: io partiss<\/span>i, tu partiss<\/span>i, lui partiss<\/span>e, noi partiss<\/span>imo, voi partiste, loro partiss<\/span>ero<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are few more examples of how to use the imperefct subjunctive<\/em> when talking about an imagined situation: <\/span><\/p>\n

Se non piovesse farei una passeggiata <\/strong>(if it wasn’t raining I would go fo a walk); se Bruno arrivasse presto potrebbe aiutarci <\/strong>(if Bruno arrived soon he could help us); se partissimo oggi avremmo tempo di visitare Siena <\/strong>(if we left today we would have time to visit Siena); se io fossi in te non andrei a Roma in macchina <\/strong>(if I were you I wouldn’t go to Rome by car).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Mille Lire al Mese\u2019<\/strong>, which was the inspiration for a film of the same name, was\u00a0sung by Gilberto Mazzi.\u00a0Here are\u00a0the rest of the lyrics:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Che disperazione, che delusione dover campar,
\nsempre in disdetta, sempre in bolletta!
\nMa se un posticino domani cara io trover\u00f2,
\ndi gemme d’oro ti coprir\u00f2!
\nSe potessi avere mille lire al mese,
\nsenza esagerare, sarei certo di trovar
\ntutta la felicit\u00e0!
\nUn modesto impiego, io non ho pretese,
\nvoglio lavorare per poter alfin trovar
\ntutta la tranquillit\u00e0!
\nUna casettina in periferia, una mogliettina
\ngiovane e carina, tale e quale come te.
\nSe potessi avere mille lire al mese,
\nfarei tante spese, comprerei fra tante cose
\nle pi\u00f9 belle che vuoi tu!<\/span><\/h6>\n

Ho sognato ancora, stanotte amore l’eredit\u00fcbr d’uno zio lontano americano!
\nMa se questo sogno non si avverasse,
\ncome far\u00f2…. il ritornello ricanter\u00f2!<\/strong>Se potessi avere . . .<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is an old popular Italian song from 1939 called \u2018Mille Lire al Mese\u2019, which somehow seems very appropriate given the present economic climate. The first verse goes: Che disperazione, che delusione dover campar, sempre in disdetta, sempre in bolletta! Ma se un posticino domani cara io trovero\u2019, di gemme d\u2019oro ti copriro\u2019! Se potessi…<\/p>\n

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