Italian All-in-One For Dummies (176 page)

The following tables show examples of a transitive verb (which takes
avere
), an intransitive verb (which takes
essere
), and a reflexive verb in the
trapassato prossimo
tense.

Note:
The past participles of verbs conjugated with
essere
(in any compound tense) must agree in number and gender with their subjects.

Chapter 4

I Hope That You've Had Fun! The Subjunctive Mood in the Past

In This Chapter

Putting together the past subjunctive and the past perfect subjunctive

Using the right tense in the main clause with the subjunctive in the dependent clause

T
he subjunctive mood expresses doubt, uncertainty, opinion, emotion — all the things required for
subjective
thoughts (you know, things like,
I'm happy that you love Italian food, I don't think that pasta is sitting too well,
or
I think this book is great!
). Sometimes you want or need to express doubt or uncertainty in the past tense, which is the job of the past subjunctive (for example,
It's probable that I loved Italian food before I ate that pasta and read this book
).

Sometimes you may also need the past perfect subjunctive tense, which refers to a specific time and generally translates as
had eaten
or
had jumped
. Like the other three tenses in the subjunctive (the present subjunctive, the imperfect subjunctive, and the past subjunctive), it's most often used in subordinate clauses, introduced by the conjunction
che
(
that
).

This chapter provides you with some stellar past subjunctive explanations, shows you how to form the past perfect subjunctive, and provides you with a handy refresher on how to form sentences by using all four subjunctive tenses. Enjoy!

Forming the Past Subjunctive

If you have a handle on using the present subjunctive tense (see
Chapter 6
in Book IV), you should find the past subjunctive to be a breeze. You follow the same format, except you express doubt, uncertainty, and so on about an action that occurred in the past.

The past subjunctive (or
congiuntivo passato
) is a compound tense. In most cases, you form the past subjunctive with the following parts:

Main clause +
che
(
that
) + present subjunctive of
avere
(
to have
) or
essere
(
to be
) + past participle

Just like with the present subjunctive, the past subjunctive appears in the dependent clause, usually introduced by
che.
The verb in the main clause needs to be a verb that denotes uncertainty, emotion, and so on.

Present subjunctive:
Dubito
che loro
vengano
.
(
I doubt that they're coming.
)

Past subjunctive:
Dubito
che loro
siano venuti
.
(
I doubt that they came.
)

You use the past subjunctive when the action in the dependent clause (the verb in the past subjunctive) happened before the action in the main clause. The verb in the main clause appears in the present tense (generally) or in the future or imperative tense (less frequently); see the later section “
Sequencing Your Tenses in the Subjunctive
” for more details.

The following tables show three examples of the past subjunctive: a transitive verb (one that takes
avere
), an intransitive verb (one that takes
essere
), and a reflexive verb (which takes
essere
), respectively.

The adverbs of time —
già
(
already
),
mai
(
never; ever
), and
ancora
(
still; yet
) — go between the auxiliary verb and the past participle.

Composing the Past Perfect Subjunctive

The
trapassato
congiuntivo
(
past perfect subjunctive
), typically shortened to
trapassato,
is a compound tense that you form by combining these parts:

Che
(
that
) + the imperfect subjunctive of
avere
(
to have
)
or
essere
(
to be
)
+ the past participle of the verb in question

If you guessed that from the start, congratulations! You may have guessed it because you form the
trapassato
just like you form the other compound tenses in Book V. (If you need the scoop on the imperfect subjunctive, check out
Chapter 6
in Book IV.)

The following tables give you three examples: a transitive verb (one that takes
avere
), an intransitive verb (one that takes
essere
), and a reflexive verb (which takes
essere
) in the
trapassato,
respectively.
Note:
For the reflexive verb, you must add the proper reflexive pronoun during conjugation (
mi, ti, si, ci, vi,
or
si
).