| the conditional (il condizionale)
1. The CONDIZIONALE, or conditional tense, is roughly the equivalent of the English "would + infinitive."
2. As in English, the CONDIZIONALE is used to express: hopes and desires ("of course I would go to Italy!"); a possibility depending on certain conditions ("I would ski if there were snow"); to soften a request ("Would you bring me some coffee?"); to express personal opinions ("I would say that our teacher is too demanding").
3. The CONDIZIONALE is a verb
mood (like the INDICATIVO, INFINITO, IMPERATIVO are also verb moods) which
has two tenses, the present and the past: CONDIZIONALE PRESENTE and
CONDIZIONALE PASSATO.
4. The CONDIZIONALE PASSATO is used to express the uses described in 2. above, when the action refers to something in the past.
5. The CONDIZIONALE PASSATO is also used to indicate a future action from the point of view of the past; English, by contrast, uses the present conditional for this: "Yesterday, my sister told me that she would visit me today;" in Italian, you would say: "Ieri, mia sorella mi ha detto che oggi mi avrebbe visitato."
6. The CONDIZIONALE of "potere,"
"volere," and "dovere" is "potrei," "vorrei," and "dovrei," and it
can be translated as "I could," "I would like," "I should."
The CONDIZIONALE presente is formed by adding the CONDIZIONALE endings to the stem of the FUTURO. The CONDIZIONALE passato is formed by using the CONDIZIONALE of AVERE or ESSERE (depending on what the verb takes) plus the PARTICIPIO PASSATO.
CONDIZIONALE PRESENTE
scriver-ei
scriver-esti
scriver-ebbe
scriver-emmo
scriver-este
scriver-ebbero
remember:
1. verbs in -ARE form the FUTURO stem by changing the A into an E (parlare>>parler-ei, ballare>>baller-ei)
2. all the verbs that have an irregular stem in the FUTURO have an irregular stem in the CONDIZIONALE (volere>>vorr-ei; bere>>berr-ei; avere>>avr-ei; potere>>potr-ei; venire>>verr-ei; dare>>dar-ei; essere>>sar-ei; dovere>>dovr-ei)
3. the endings for the CONDIZIONALE are always regular
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CONDIZIONALE PASSATO
sarei andato
saresti andato
sarebbe andato
saremmo andati
sareste andati
sarebbero andati
avrei mangiato
avresti mangiato
avrebbe mangiato
avremmo mangiato
avreste mangiato
avrebbero mangiaro
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