Italian All-in-One For Dummies (161 page)

È
essenziale che
io
capisca
questo congiuntivo.
(
It's essential that I understand this subjunctive.
)

È
bene che
lei
capisca
sua nipote.
(
It's a good thing that she understands her niece.
)

The following table shows the present subjunctive
-are
verb endings:
-i, -iamo, -iate,
and
-ino.
The word
che
precedes the verb in these constructions and the rest in this section.

The following two tables show the present subjunctive
-ere
and
-ire
verb endings:
-a, -iamo, -iate,
and
-ano.

The following table shows the endings for
-ire (isc)
verbs in the present subjunctive:
-isca, -iamo, -iate,
and
-iscano.

The
-ire
verbs come in two types. The first is a regular, normal Italian verb, such as
dormire
(
to sleep
); the second is known as an
isc
verb because all the conjugated forms, except for
noi
and
voi,
insert the letters
isc
between the stem and the endings.
Chapter 1
in Book IV includes a thorough discussion of these verbs.

You conjugate reflexive verbs, such as
divertirsi
(
to have fun; to enjoy oneself; to have a good time
), just as you do any of the previous
-are, -ere, -ire,
and
-ire (isc)
verbs in the present subjunctive. The only difference is that you need to add the reflexive pronouns (
mi, ti, si, ci, vi,
and
si
).

Mastering the Present Subjunctive

As with the indicative mood, the present subjunctive mood features verbs that undergo spelling changes and irregular verbs. Spelling exceptions are common, but the good news is that the first three persons in the subjunctive (first, second, and third person singular) are exactly the same. Irregular verbs become easy to handle, too, after you understand their stems and structures. And the good thing about remembering the various exceptions to the present subjunctive? The
io, tu, lei, Lei,
and
loro
forms are the same as the
Lei
and
Loro
command (or imperative) forms described in
Chapter 3
of Book IV.

Spelling exceptions

One spelling exception calls for you to add an
h
to the end of the stems of
-care
and
-gare
verbs — such as
dimenticare
(
to forget
) and
pagare
(
to pay
) — before you add their subjunctive endings (see the previous section for regular endings). Doing so allows you to keep the hard
c
and
g
sounds throughout, similar to the spelling exception you see in the present indicative tense. In the indicative, however, the spelling change occurs only in the
tu
and
noi
persons; in the subjunctive, you add the
h
to all six persons.

È
probabile che io
dimentichi
questo congiuntivo.
(
It's probable
that I'm going to forget this subjunctive.
)

È
probabile che il nonno
paghi
la cena.
(
It's probable
that Grandpa
is paying
for dinner.
)

Other verbs in the present subjunctive, like
cominciare
(
to begin
),
mangiare
(
to eat
),
lasciare
(
to leave
), and
svegliare
(
to wake
) — in other words, verbs that end in
-iare
— drop the
i
before you add the subjunctive endings. This is a functional change so you don't have to double up on the
i.
The following table shows the structure of
-iare
verbs, using
cominciare
as an example.

Irregular forms

The conjugations of the
lei
and
loro
imperative forms are very similar to the conjugations of irregular verbs in the present subjunctive. In fact, the conjugations are essentially the same.
Table 6-1
lists the main irregular forms.

Note:
The three singular forms of each verb are the same, meaning that
io, tu, lui, lei, Lei
are all included in the first conjugation you see. For example,
Pensa
che io
abbia
fame
(
He thinks that I have hunger
);
Pensa
che tu
abbia
fame
(
He thinks that you have hunger
);
Pensa
che Lei
abbia
fame
(
He thinks that you
[formal]
have hunger
).