3.3. The conditional, presente and passato

The conditional is a mood of the Italian verb with two tenses: a present tense and a past tense. In English, the conditional is often expressed with “would + verb,” as in “I would go but I can’t.”

Uses of the present conditional, il condizionale presente

The Italian conditional mood describes an imaginary or hypothetical situation or event.

In Italian this (conditional) attitude can be expressed through a specific conjugation:

Andrei al concerto. = I would go to the concert.

Laura leggerebbe quel libro. = Laura would read that book.

Forms of il condizionale presente

Regular verbs

Note that il condizonale presente uses the same stem as the future tense (for –ere and –ire verbs, this verb stem is often identical to the infinitive, minus the final –e).

• the verbs in –are  change the vowel –a of the infinitive stem to an –e;

• the verbs in –ere and –ire keep the same vowels of the infinitive stem.

Il condizionale presente has the same endings for all three conjugations:

-ei        -emmo

-esti      -este

-ebbe   -ebbero

As we saw with the future tense (Section 1.6), when a verb is irregular in the conditional, its irregularity is only found in its stem.

 Frequent irregular verbs

Note in the table above that the verbs of the second conjugation (-ere) are frequently irregular.

Additional uses of il condizionale presente:

The present tense of the conditional, especially when using the modal verbs (potere-volere-dovere),

can express:

·         polite request. E.g.: “Potrebbe aiutarmi con la valigia, per favore?”

“Could you help me with my bag, please?”

·         wish. E.g.: “Mio nipote vorrebbe vivere a San Francisco”  

“My nephew/grandson would like to live in San Francisco.”

·         advice, suggestion. E.g.: “Secondo me Kristen dovrebbe trovare un lavoro pagato meglio.”  

“In my opinion, Kristen should find a job that pays better.”

Past conditional, il condizionale passato

Uses of il condizionale passato

As we will see in the section dealing with hypothetical expressions (Section 3.6, imperfect subjunctive; congiuntivo imperfetto), the past tense of the conditional can express:

• a wish in a past context that did not come to be realized, as for instance a regret, e.g.: 

Quando ero piccolo, mi sarebbe piaciuto molto imparare a danzare.

When I was little, I would have liked to learn how to dance.

Ieri avrei mangiato con voi molto volentieri ma non ero in città.

Yesterday I would have enjoyed eating with you but I wasn’t in town.

• a sense of “future of the past,” in order to describe a future event that will not be possible for someone or something (in English we use the present conditional for such cases), e.g.:

Maria mi ha detto che sarebbe venuta al cinema domani con noi, ma ha già un impegno.

Mary said she would come to the movies with us tomorrow but she’s already busy.

Avrei chiamato Lara ma so che è ancora in vacanza.

I would call Lara but I know she’s still on vacation.

Forms of il condizionale passato

The past conditional is a compound verb, formed with the present conditional of the appropriate auxiliary verb essere or avere, plus the past participle of the verb.

A general note on both the present and past conditional

The Italian conditional mood does not always have a perfect correspondence in English: beyond “would,” it could be translated with “could,” “may,” “might,” “ought,” “should,” “should have,” etc… (+ infinitive).