{"id":7099,"date":"2014-09-08T09:25:53","date_gmt":"2014-09-08T09:25:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=7099"},"modified":"2014-09-15T18:45:51","modified_gmt":"2014-09-15T18:45:51","slug":"i-would-have-liked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/i-would-have-liked\/","title":{"rendered":"I Would Have Liked …"},"content":{"rendered":"

A while ago I wrote an article entitled I Would Like<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/a> in which I discussed how to use the conditional of the verb piacere<\/strong> (to please). If you feel you need to revise the use of piacere<\/strong>, I suggest that you read this blog<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, if you feel fairly comfortable using \u2018I like\u2019 and \u2018I would like\u2019, let\u2019s move on to today\u2019s slightly more abstract subject: \u2018I would have liked\u2019. This construction consists of the present conditional of essere<\/strong>, i.e. sarebbe<\/strong> (third person singular) or sarebbero<\/strong> (third person plural) plus the past participle of the verb piacere<\/strong> with the appropriate masculine\/feminine, singular\/plural ending: i.e. piaciuto\/a\/i\/e<\/strong>. We\u2019re going to explore this construction through some practical examples. But first let me tell you how I learnt to use it.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n
\"head<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u201cNow \u2026 how on earth do I say \u2018I would have liked\u2019 in Italian?\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 Photo: (CC) <\/em><\/span><\/strong>Steven Straiton<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Serena and I were at an exhibition of work by Marc Chagall in Pisa many years ago. I remember that it was one of a series of touring exhibitions of so called \u2018work\u2019 by famous artists designed to attract tourists that turned out to be a bit of a con, as all of the \u2018works of art\u2019 were actually just prints. Feeling ripped off, I puzzled over how to say to the curator \u201cI would have liked to have seen some real paintings!\u201d<\/em> in Italian, but after 10 minutes of brain frazzling I just couldn\u2019t come up with a plausible construction. So I gave up and asked Serena \u201cHow on earth do I say \u2018I would have liked\u2019 in Italian?\u201d<\/em> The answer seemed somewhat bizarre to me at the time: mi sarebbe piaciuto<\/strong> = to me it would be pleased<\/em> \u2026 what the devil! Yes, strange but true! In fact so strange did it seem to my poor English brain that it stuck there due to its outlandish novelty.<\/p>\n

And now for some more examples:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n
\"gorilla\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u201callora \u2026 mi sarebbero piaciute delle banane!\u201d (so \u2026 I would have liked some bananas!) Photo: (CC) by <\/em><\/strong>Philip Kromer<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

1. Una visita a Modena mancata<\/strong><\/span> =<\/span> <\/span>A missed visit to Modena
\n<\/span>Ieri mi sarebbe piaciuto<\/span> andare a Modena, ma non c\u2019era tempo<\/strong> = I would have liked<\/span> to have gone to Modena yesterday, but there wasn’t time
\nCosa ti sarebbe piaciuto<\/span> fare a Modena?<\/strong> = what would you have liked<\/span> to have done in Modena?
\nMi sarebbero piaciute<\/span> due cose: visitare una distilleria di Aceto Balsamico e poi vedere il museo Ferrari<\/strong> = I would have liked<\/span> to have done two things: visit a balsamic vinegar distillery and then see the Ferrari museum
\nInvece a Francesca<\/span> cosa sarebbe piaciuto<\/span> fare?<\/strong> = what would Francesca have liked<\/span> to have done on the other hand?
\nMi ha detto che le sarebbe piaciuto<\/span> andare a trovare una vecchia amica che abita l\u00ec<\/strong> = she told me that she would have liked<\/span> to have gone to visit an old friend who lives there
\nPeccato che non c\u2019era tempo \u2026 magari la prossima volta<\/strong> = what a shame there wasn\u2019t time \u2026 perhaps the next time<\/p>\n

2. Al ristorante (non molto ben fornito)<\/strong> = At the (not very well stocked) restaurant<\/span>
\n<\/span>Allora, cosa ti va?<\/strong> So, what do you fancy?
\nA me sarebbero piaciute<\/span> le lasagne, ma dicono che oggi non ci sono, quindi prendo gli spaghetti<\/strong> = I would have liked<\/span> the Lasagne, but they say that there isn\u2019t any today, so I\u2019ll have the Spaghetti
\nA me invece sarebbero piaciuti<\/span> i tortellini ai funghi, ma anche quelli non ci sono oggi … quindi, dai, anch’io prendo gli spaghetti<\/strong> = I<\/span>, on the other hand, would have liked<\/span> the tortellini with mushrooms, but there aren\u2019t any of those today either \u2026 so, okay, I\u2019ll have the spaghetti as well<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n
\"gorilla<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u201cCosa, non avete neanche le banane! Ma che ristorante di M**DA!\u201d (What, you haven’t even got any bananas! What a SH**TY restaurant!) Photo (CC) by <\/span><\/em><\/strong>Tambako The Jaguar<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

3. All’hotel low cost in Marocco<\/strong> = At the low cost hotel in Morocco
\n<\/span><\/span>Cavolo, mi sarebbe piaciuto<\/span> farmi una bella doccia, ma non funziona, esce solo la sabbia!<\/strong> = damn, I would have liked<\/span> to have had a nice shower, but it doesn\u2019t work, nothing comes out but sand!
\nA me<\/span> invece sarebbe piaciuto<\/span> fare un bagno in piscina, ma anche la piscina \u00e8 piena di sabbia!<\/strong> = I<\/span>, on the other hand, would have liked<\/span> to have had a nice dip in the pool, but the pool is full of sand as well!
\nAllora cosa vuoi fare?<\/strong> = So, what do you want to do?
\nInsomma … mi piacerebbe picchiare quel deficiente del tour operator!<\/strong> = Well, I\u2019d like to beat that moronic tour operator! (N.B. this sentence uses the normal conditional of piacere<\/strong>, see this blog<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

A while ago I wrote an article entitled I Would Like in which I discussed how to use the conditional of the verb piacere (to please). If you feel you need to revise the use of piacere, I suggest that you read this blog. Now, if you feel fairly comfortable using \u2018I like\u2019 and \u2018I…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":7109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6,619],"tags":[351061,741],"class_list":["post-7099","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grammar","category-italian-language","tag-italian-conditional-tense","tag-italian-past-tenses"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7099","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\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7099"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7195,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7099\/revisions\/7195"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}