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Because I’ve been doing this Italian thing for awhile (&because I like lists), I have a list of tenses that I love in Italian.

The imperfect subjunctive is number two because I love the way all of the s’s sound.

And because I can think up ridiculous scenarios and talk about them.

And ask everyone who speaks Italian a less realistic, more interesting version of 21 questions.

But how do you use this lovely s-filled, dreamy scenario tense?

When to use it

— When the most important part of the sentence includes the past tense, imperfect tense or the conditional tense

— Talk about an unlikely hypothetical situation that starts with Se (If) like If I won the lottery…

— After the wishful expression Magari (if only)

What it looks like

If you say goodbye to the -RE at the end of each verb, you can tack on these endings for regular verbs:

–ssi

–ssi

–sse

–ssimo

–ste

–ssero

Here are couple example verbs so you can see the big, wonderful picture.

Avere – to have 

Avessi           Avessimo

Avessi           Aveste

Avesse          Avessero

Venire – to come

Venissi        Venissimo

Venissi        Veniste

Venisse       Venissero

Cominciare – to begin

Cominciassi    Cominciassimo

Cominciassi    Cominciaste

Cominciasse   Cominciassero

How to use it

— When the most important part of the sentence includes the past tense, imperfect tense or the conditional tense

Subject* + past/imperfect/conditional tense + che  + imperfect subjunctive verb + last part of your magnificent sentence

— Talk about an unlikely hypothetical situation that starts with Se (If) like If I won the lottery…

Se (If) + subject* + imperfect subjunctive tense + something lovely made up by you + conditional tense + some lovely ending to your sentence

— After the wishful expression Magari (if only)

Magari + imperfect subjunctive tense + some fantastic ending

*Keep in mind that the subjects io and tu are spoken in this tense to remedy a misunderstanding since they have the same endings. The remaining subjects noi, voi, loro can be left off. Lui and lei can be left off if it’s clear who you’re talking about.

Esempi

— Cher desiderava che tu studiassi l’italiano di più. – Cher wishes that you study Italian more.

— Vorremmo che guardaste il film francese. – We would like that you all watch the French film.

— Speravo che la vita fosse più facile. – I hoped that life were easier.

— Se fossi una giraffa, mangerei le foglie. – If I were a giraffe, I would eat leaves.

— Se avessero tempo, imparerebbero a ballare. – If they had time, they would learn to dance.

— Magari fosse vero. – If only it were true.

— Magari potessi venire da te. – If only I could come to your house.

Must-Know Irregular Verbs

Bere – to drink

Bevessi    Bevessimo

Bevessi    Beveste

Bevesse   Bevessero

Dare – to give

Dessi     Dessimo

Dessi     Deste

Desse    Dessero

Dire – to say 

Dicessi   Dicessimo

Dicessi   Diceste

Dicesse  Dicessero

Essere – to be 

Fossi    Fossimo

Fossi    Foste

Fosse   Fossero

Fare – to do/to make

Facessi   Facessimo

Facessi   Faceste

Facesse  Facessero

Stare – to be/stay

Stessi    Stessimo

Stessi    Steste

Stesse   Stessero

Other useful articles

— Italian Present Conditional (or the tense that finally lets you express yourself in Italian) 

— Italian Past Tense (because even though we shouldn’t live in it, we need to talk about it)

— The Imperfect Tense in Italian (or the tense that lets you sweetly reminisce on the old days)

Leave a comment (scrivimi!) if you have any questions about this tense OR scrivimi with a sentence in the imperfect subjunctive using the verb Avere.