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How to form the present and past subjunctive in Italian?

By: Silvia Giorgini Althoen Fri Aug 30 2024
Italian
Verbs, Subjunctive Mood

To form the present subjunctive in Italian, drop the infinitive endings and add the present subjunctive endings. For example, a regular -are verb like ascoltare(to listen) would be: (io, tu, lui/lei) ascolti, (noi) ascoltiamo, (voi) ascoltiate, and (loro) ascoltino. To form the past subjunctive, on the other hand, you need the present subjunctive forms of verbs essere or avere plus a past participle.

Recall that the subjunctive mood in Italian has four tenses: present, past, imperfect, and pluperfect. In this post we’ll cover the regular and irregular forms of the present subjunctive, then we’ll go over the past subjunctive.

Without further ado, let’s see some tips on how to form the present subjunctive, and how to form the past subjunctive! Penso che siate pronti!(I think you are ready!) Let's go!

Table of Contents

    Before you start!

    Do you remember what the subjunctive is? It’s a verbal mood that is mainly used to express emotions, doubts, desires, and opinions! Check out our post if you want a brief reminder on when and why we use the subjunctive in Italian, otherwise, read on!

    How to form the present subjunctive of regular verbs in Italian?

    Like the present indicative, the present subjunctive in Italian is conjugated by first dropping the infinitive ending and then adding the appropriate subjunctive endings.

    To make sure you do this correctly, you’ll need to start by splitting up our verbs into the three main verb groups. Let’s refresh our memory. In Italian the three main verb groups are those ending in ‑are, ‑ere, and ‑ire.

    In this section we’ll start by teaching you how to form the present subjunctive of the verbs ending in ‑are, then we'll look at ‑ere and ‑ire patterns.

    The present subjunctive of ‘-are’ verbs

    The chart below illustrates the difference between the present subjunctive and the present indicative of an -are verb in Italian. Since the subjunctive is always talking about feelings, we’ve started you off with the most romantic verb: amare(to love).

    Subject Pronoun
    Present
    Subjunctive
    💚
    Present
    Indicative
    🧠

    io

    am-i

    am-o

    tu

    am-i

    am-o

    lui/lei/Lei

    am-i

    am-a

    noi

    am-iamo

    am-iamo

    voi

    am-iate

    am-ate

    loro

    am-ino

    am-ano

    Amazing news!!!

    The subjunctive has fewer endings than the present indicative and the noi(we) form is just like the indicative! So you really only need to learn three new endings! YEAH!!!!!

    Let’s break down those three -are endings:

    • The three singular subject pronouns, io(I), tu(you, sing.), and lei/lui(s/he) have the same subjunctive ending: -i (just like the tu form of the indicative).

      io ami = tu ami = lui/lei ami

    • For voi(you, plural), just add an -i before the indicative ending (-ate).

      amate → amiate.

    • For the third person plural loro(they), just add -no to the subjunctive lei/lui form.

      lui/lei ami → loro amino

      That’s a super cool trick!

    A couple spelling pointers:

    • Just like in the indicative, when you conjugate verbs with a hard “g” or “c” before the ending, like pagare(to pay) and cercare(to look for), you'll need to add an h before the ending to keep the hard sound in front of the i.

      …che io paghi

      …that I pay

      …che io cerchi

      …that I look for

    • Also, with verbs that already have an i before the ending, like mangiare(to eat) and cominciare(to begin) don’t add a second i to form the subjunctive. Only use one i as in the indicative:

      …che lui mangi

      …that he eats

      …che tu cominci

      …that you begin

    Important

    Remember that the subjunctive is mostly used in subordinate clauses introduced by the word che(that) when the subjects are different:

    Credo che lui ami questa città.

    I believe that he loves this city.

    But also remember that subject pronouns can be omitted in Italian, so the sentence above can be:

    Credo che ami questa città.

    But this second version of the sentence is a little ambiguous. Though we know the subject of ami cannot be io(I), because the subjects must be different in order to use the subjunctive, the subject of ami could be tu(you), lui(he), lei(she), Lei(you, formal). To avoid ambiguity, it’s better to use the subject pronoun:

    Credo che lui ami questa città.

    The present subjunctive of‘-ere,’ ‘-ire,’ and two-stem ‘-ire’ verbs

    The charts below illustrate the present subjunctive forms of -ere verbs and -ire verbs:

    Subject
    Pronoun
    -ere verbs
    -ire verbs
    prendere(to take)
    dormire(to sleep)
    finire(to finish)

    io

    prend-a

    dorm-a

    finisc-a

    tu

    prend-a

    dorm-a

    finisc-a

    lei/lui

    prend-a

    dorm-a

    finisc-a

    noi

    prend-iamo

    dorm-iamo

    fin-iamo

    voi

    prend-iate

    dorm-iate

    fin-iate

    loro

    prend-ano

    dorm-ano

    finisc-ano

    Finire is a two-stem -ire verb, which means that the io, tu, lui/lei, and loro form uses one stem while the noi and voi forms use another. Otherwise, though, these verbs take the regular endings.

    Pretty cool, huh? Regular verbs in -ere and -ire have the same conjugation pattern and, like the verbs in -are, noi(we) follows the present indicative:

    Present Subjunctive
    Present Indicative

    prend-iamo

    prend-iamo

    dorm-iamo

    dorm-iamo

    fin-iamo

    fin-iamo

    Hence only three present subjunctive endings to learn!

    Let’s break -ere and -ire verbs down:

    • The first three (singular) subject pronouns io(I), tu(you, sing.), lei/lui(s/he) have the same ending: -a

      io/tu/lei/lui + prenda / dorma / finisca

    • For the voi(you, plural) form, change the first vowel of the present indicative endings -ete or -ite to -ia:

      • prendete → prendiate

      • dormite → dormiate

      • finite → finiate

    • For the loro(they) form, use -a instead of the o of the present indicative: -ono:

      • prendono → prendano

      • dormono → dormano

      • finiscono → finiscano

    What are the irregular verbs in the present subjunctive?

    The “lucky seven” irregular verbs you need to know by heart to impress your Italian friends are:

    • essere(to be)

    • avere(to have)

    • andare(to go)

    • venire(to come)

    • fare(to do)

    • dare(to give)

    • sapere(to know)

    Let's look at their forms!

    Irregular Verb
    Conjugations
    (Present Subjunctive)

    essere

    • io/tu/lui/lei sia

    • noi siamo

    • voi siate

    • loro siano

    avere

    • io/tu/lui/lei abbia

    • noi abbiamo

    • voi abbiate

    • loro abbiano

    andare

    • io/tu/lui/lei vada

    • noi andiamo

    • voi andiate

    • loro vadano

    venire

    • io/tu/lui/lei venga

    • noi veniamo

    • voi veniate

    • loro vengano

    Irregular Verb
    Conjugations
    (Present Subjunctive)

    fare

    • io/tu/lui/lei faccia

    • noi facciamo

    • voi facciate

    • loro facciano

    dare

    • io/tu/lui/lei dia

    • noi diamo

    • voi diate

    • loro diano

    sapere

    • io/tu/lui/lei sappia

    • noi sappiamo

    • voi sappiate

    • loro sappiano

    You can find other irregular verbs in the present subjunctive in the linked tables!

    How to form the past subjunctive in Italian?

    Finally, the past subjunctive is easy, once you know the present subjunctive of avere(to have) and essere(to be). Just add the past participle and you have it!

    avere(to have) / essere(to be)
    (present subjunctive)

    past participle

    Penso che Davide abbia finito l’università.

    I think Davide has finished college.

    Sono felice che i miei figli siano arrivati ieri!

    I’m happy my children arrived yesterday!

    Check out our post on when to use essere or avere in compound tenses if you need a refresher!

    Important

    In Italian, the sequence of verbs (tenses and moods) is very important, and it will determine which tense to use in the subordinate clause: present or past.

    If the main clause is in the present indicative, follow these rules:

    • When two actions happen simultaneously, or the action in the subordinate clause happens immediately after the action in the main clause, use present subjunctive in the subordinate clause

      present indicativepresent subjunctive

      Voglio che chiamiate i vostri genitori

      I want you to call your parents.

    • When the action in the subordinate clause happened before the action in the main clause, you’ll use the past subjunctive instead:

      present indicativepast subjunctive

      Credo che tu abbia chiamato i vostri genitori.

      I believe that you called your parents.

    Summary

    • The singular forms (io, tu, lui/lei) of the present subjunctive have the same endings:

      • -i (for -are verbs)

      • -a (for -ere and -ire verbs)

    • -are verbs keep the -i throughout the conjugation

    • -ere and -ire verbs use -(i)a throughout the conjugation

    • noi(we) is the same as the present indicative

    • Plan on learning by heart at least the lucky seven irregular verbs!

    • To form the past subjunctive, just learn avere and essere by heart in the present subjunctive and add the past participle.

    Time to practice! Check our activities on the present and past subjunctive! Or, if you think you’ve already mastered these forms, head over to our post on the other two subjunctive past tenses: the imperfect and the pluperfect subjunctive!

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