{"id":191,"date":"2009-10-10T08:00:56","date_gmt":"2009-10-10T12:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=191"},"modified":"2009-10-10T08:00:56","modified_gmt":"2009-10-10T12:00:56","slug":"il-congiuntivo-part-3-%e2%80%93-passato","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/il-congiuntivo-part-3-%e2%80%93-passato\/","title":{"rendered":"Il Congiuntivo Part 3 \u2013 Passato"},"content":{"rendered":"

In part 1 of this series on the congiuntivo<\/strong> I explained how to use it in the present tense, il congiuntivo presente<\/strong>. Part 2 consisted of a list of the most common irregular verbs and their present tense conjugations. This included the two verbs essere <\/strong>(to be), and avere <\/strong>(to have) which are essential to the construction of the Congiuntivo Passato <\/strong>(Perfect Subjunctive). In order to construct the perfect subjunctive you simply use the present subjunctive of the auxiliary verbs essere<\/strong> and avere<\/strong>, followed by the past participle of the main verb. Here are a couple of examples that illustrate how the perfect subjunctive is constructed:<\/span><\/p>\n

Andare <\/strong>(to go), this uses the auxiliary verb essere<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Io sia andato\/a, tu sia andato\/a, lui sia andato, lei sia andata, noi siamo andati\/e, voi siate andati\/e, loro siano andati\/e<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Finire <\/strong>(to finish), this uses the auxiliary verb avere<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Io abbia finito, tu abbia finito, lui\/lei abbia finito, noi abbiamo finito, voi abbiate finito, loro abbiano finito<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In order to know whether to use \u2018essere\u2019 or \u2018avere\u2019 you will need to understand the rules that apply for the \u2018passato prossimo\u2019 (present perfect). You can refresh your memory by looking at my article about <\/span>transitive and intransitive verbs<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Congiuntivo Passato <\/strong>is normally used\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>to say what you think, wish or hope about something in the past. It comes after the conjunction che<\/strong> (that) following verbs such as sperare <\/strong>(to hope), credere <\/strong>(to believe), pensare<\/strong> (to think), dubitare <\/strong>(to doubt) used in the present tense. Here are some examples: speriamo che non abbia piovuto<\/span><\/strong> (let\u2019s hope it hasn\u2019t rained); Lucia pensa che Maria sia partita<\/span> ieri per le vacanze <\/strong>(Lucia thinks that Maria left yesterday for her holidays); mi stupisco che tu sia rimasto ancora <\/strong>(I\u2019m surprised that you remained longer); ho paura che Carlo non ce l\u2019abbia fatta<\/span> a superare l\u2019esame <\/strong>(I\u2019m worried that Carlo wasn’t able to pass the exam).<\/span><\/p>\n

N.B. the congiuntivo passato is not used after the verb volere <\/strong>(to want)!<\/span><\/p>\n

2.<\/strong> to talk about the past after impersonal verbs<\/span> followed by the conjunction che<\/strong>, such as sembra che <\/strong>(it seems that), si dice che <\/strong>(it is said that), e.g. sembra che Giorgio abbia cambiato<\/span> lavoro <\/strong>(it seems that Giorgio has changed job); si dice che questa sia stata<\/span> una buona annata per i pomodori <\/strong>(this is said to have been a good year for the tomatoes).<\/span><\/p>\n

3.<\/strong> to talk about the past after impersonal constructions<\/span> such as \u00e8 facile \/ difficile che<\/strong> (it\u2019s likely \/ unlikely that), \u00e8 meglio che <\/strong>(it\u2019s better that), \u00e8 un peccato che<\/strong> (it\u2019s a pity that), non \u00e8 giusto che<\/strong> (it\u2019s unfair that), e.g. \u00c8 un peccato che tu non sia potuta<\/span> venire<\/strong> (it\u2019s a pity that you weren’t able to come); non \u00e8 giusto che sia<\/span> sempre stato<\/span> io a lavare i piatti<\/strong> (it\u2019s unfair that it was always me that had to wash the dishes); \u00e8 meglio che siate venuti<\/span> ieri pomeriggio<\/strong> (it\u2019s better that you [plural] came yesterday afternoon).<\/span><\/p>\n

4.<\/strong> following conjunctions built with che<\/strong>, to express a possibility or a condition that should<\/span> have happened in the past, such as a meno che<\/strong> (unless), nel caso che<\/strong> (in case), a condizione che <\/strong>(on condition that), purch\u00e9 <\/strong>(provided that), bench\u00e9 <\/strong>(even though\/although). Here are some examples:\u00a0gli zucchini sono morti bench\u00e9 li abbia innaffiati<\/span> tutti i giorni <\/strong>(the zucchini plants have died even though I watered them every day); Giorgio dovrebbe essere arrivato a casa ormai, a meno che il treno non abbia tardato<\/span> <\/strong>(Giorgio should be at home by now, unless the train was late).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Coming soon Il Congiuntivo Imperfetto!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In part 1 of this series on the congiuntivo I explained how to use it in the present tense, il congiuntivo presente. Part 2 consisted of a list of the most common irregular verbs and their present tense conjugations. This included the two verbs essere (to be), and avere (to have) which are essential to…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[671],"class_list":["post-191","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-grammar","tag-congiuntivo-passato"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3246,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191\/revisions\/3246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}