Italian All-in-One For Dummies (174 page)

ogni . . .
(
every . . .
)

ogni giorno, ogni anno, ogni inverno
(
every day, every year, every winter
)

qualche volta
(
sometimes
)

frequentemente
(
frequently; often
)

spesso
(
often
)

mentre
(
while
)

sempre
(
always; all the time
)

da bambino/da bambina
(
as a child
)

Thus, you may say some of the following expressions, which use imperfect reflexive verbs:

Ogni giorno ci divertivamo.
(
Every day, we had fun.
)

Il lunedì si parlavano.
(
Every Monday, they talked to each other.
)

Si pensavano sempre.
(
They thought about each other all the time.
)

Verbs that lend themselves to the imperfect (though they can also appear in the present perfect) include those listed here. Remember that they can be reciprocal or not reciprocal.

Here are some examples of these verbs in action:

Paolo e Francesca si desideravano.
(
Paolo and Francesca desired/wanted each other.
)

Si volevano bene.
(
They loved/were fond of each other.
) (
They wanted each other's company.
)

Si pensavano ogni giorno.
(
They were thinking of each other every day.
)

Si amavano tanto.
(
They loved each other so much.
)

Ci odiavamo.
(
We hated each other.
)

Recognizing Reciprocal Verbs in the Past Absolute

Reciprocal verbs in the past absolute discuss a completed, reciprocal action from long ago and far away:

Si salutarono.
(
They greeted each other.
)

Si baciarono.
(
They kissed each other.
)

Si promisero di rivedersi.
(
They promised each other to meet again.
)

For more details on the past absolute, see
Chapter 1
in Book V.

Chapter 3

Second-Guessing Actions with the Past Conditional and Past Perfect

In This Chapter

Combining the pieces of the past conditional

Putting the past conditional to use

Building and using the past perfect

I
n Italian, you use the past conditional tense (
condizionale passato
) to indicate what you would, could, or should have done, said, eaten, and so on. Unlike the present conditional tense, which implies the possibility that action could still take place, the past conditional generally forecloses possibility, implying that “it's too late now!”

You very often see the past conditional in conjunction with the past perfect subjunctive (
trapassato
congiuntivo;
see
Chapter 4
in Book V) and with “if” sentences (
frasi ipotetiche;
see
Chapter 5
in Book V) — for example,
Se io avessi saputo,
avrei telefonato
(
If I had known, I would've called
). The past conditional, however, can stand on its own and sometimes with the present perfect tense (
passato prossimo;
see
Chapter 1
in Book V), the imperfect tense (
imperfetto;
see
Chapter 1
in Book V), and gerunds (see
Chapter 6
in Book V).

The
trapassato prossimo
(
past perfect
) tense corresponds to this English construction: had + a past participle. For example, you often say
had
eaten, had left, had finished, had married,
and
had enjoyed.

You often use the past perfect tense to describe an activity done prior to another activity that also has taken place —
Siccome non
avevo studiato,
ho
fatto
finta di essere malata
(
Since I hadn't studied, I pretended I was sick
). You often find past perfect verbs accompanied by the adverbs
già
(
already
),
non . . . ancora
(
not yet
), and
appena
(
just
). Some other common uses of
the trapassato prossimo
include use with the imperfect subjunctive (see
Chapter 6
in Book IV), with the past perfect subjunctive (see
Chapter 4
in Book V), and in fairy tales and literature.

This chapter provides you with examples of all the past conditional and past perfect possibilities.

Forming the Past Conditional

The past conditional tense is easy to form in Italian. Like most compound tenses, you precede the verb in question with the auxiliary verb
essere
(
to be
) or
avere
(
to have
). To form the past conditional, you put the auxiliary verb into the present conditional tense (see
Chapter 5
in Book IV) and add the past participle (see
Chapter 1
in Book V).

Here are a couple examples of this construction:

Cosa avresti
(auxiliary verb)
fatto
(past participle)
tu?
(
What would you have done?
)

Sarei
(auxiliary verb)
andata
(past participle)
via.
(
I would've gone away.
)

The following tables show example conjugations for the verbs
parlare
(which uses
avere
),
uscire
(which uses
essere
), and
fermarsi
(a reflexive verb, hence it uses
essere
).

Note:
The past participles of verbs conjugated with
essere
must always agree in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) with the subjects of the sentences — hence the four possibilities of past participle endings.

Note:
Fermarsi
is a reflexive verb, so it takes the reflexive pronouns that you see in the previous table. For more on conjugating reflexive verbs, check out
Chapter 3
in Book IV.

The verb
avere
takes
avere
as its auxiliary verb in the past conditional, and the verb
essere
takes
essere
as its auxiliary verb in the past conditional.

Using the Past Conditional to Play “Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda”

You use the past conditional in Italian in many of the same situations when you'd use it in English (heck, “you'd use it” is in the present conditional, so the conditional is all over the place).

The following is a list of the past conditional's common uses:

You can use the past conditional to identify what you would/could/should have done if something hadn't prevented you from doing it. You use the word
ma
(
but
) to indicate that something stood in your way. For example: