The past conditional is the compound form of the conditional tense, which indicates situations and events regarded only as potential and subject to a condition (Al posto tuo avrei fatto diversamente).
Also it called condizionale composto (conditional compound), although the words of past conditional is more current.
Besides indicating events no longer possible, in Italian, is used to indicate the future in the past (Immaginavi che avrei fatto diversamente?
).
Forming the Italian Present Perfect Conditional Tense
The Italian present perfect conditional tense (condizionale passato) is a compound tense (tempo composto), formed with the appropriate present conditional conjugated form of the auxiliary verb essere or avere and the past participle of the verb at issue.
| verbs conjugated with the auxiliary verb AVERE; for example, PARLARE | verbs conjugated with the auxiliary verb ESSERE; for example, ANDARE | |
|---|---|---|
| io | avrei parlato | sarei andato/a |
| tu | avresti parlato | saresti andato/a |
| lui, lei, Lei | avrebbe parlato | sarebbe andato/a |
| noi | avremmo parlato | saremmo andati/e |
| voi | avreste parlato | sareste andati/e |
| loro, Loro | avrebbero parlato | sarebbero andati/e |
For the rest, the conjugation follows the particularities of the recent past.
Use of the Present Perfect Conditional Tense
The difference between the present conditional and the past conditional conditional shows, from traditional grammar, following time criteria. According to this interpretation, the conditional express a last chance, and this is to be distinguished from the present conditional:
- Con una vincita al lotto avrei comprato una barca ('in the past').
- Con una vincita al lotto comprerei una barca ('not in the past').
It should be added that the past conditional may indicate an action is not feasible in the future:
- Il prossimo fine settimana avrei fatto volentieri un salto alla vostra festa, ma purtroppo ho da fare.
Because of uses such as the one just described, some scholars simply use the names of simple conditional and conditional compound in preference to the traditional ones. According to these researchers, the difference between I bought and buy it is in the fact that while the first form indicates eventuality not realized or not feasible, the second does not have the function of indicating the impossibility necessarily.
Summarizing, the past conditional indicates a possibility whose realization is not possible at the moment of utterance (I bought a boat). The peculiarity of indicating an event that can not be achieved is clearly visible during hypothetical impossibility of the past in the main clause:
- Se tu non avessi preso quell'appuntamento saremmo potuti andare a questa festa.
In the hypothetical period, the place of the past conditional is often taken, at least conversational in Italian, from the imperfect:
- Se tu non prendevi quell'appuntamento potevamo andare a questa festa,
or, sometimes, past perfect indicative tense (trapassato prossimo).
The Present Perfect Conditional as an Expression of the Future in the Past
Besides indicating events whose realization depends on a certain condition, the conditional past is also the most suitable form to indicate the future in the past:
- Ieri era tardissimo, ma sapevo lo stesso che saresti venuto.
Things were not always so: in fact, in ancient Italian was formed with the construction of the conditional tense (sapevo che verresti). With the passage of time (also because of the action of purism) the conditional this has been supplanted by the past. The reasons for this phenomenon have never been fully explained, but the fact is that this is an Italian peculiarity that no equivalent in the other Romance languages, instead using the conditional tense.
The feature to indicate the future in the past is especially evident in the rules of tense agreement, which regulates the selection time in the subordinate clause; less often in the past, the future is expressed with the use of the conditional past also in the main:
- Era tardissimo ma ero ottimista. Saresti venuto senz'altro e questo mi rassicurava.
In Italian conversational, the imperfect indicative can also assume, although in a less specific, the function of future in the past:
- Sapevo che venivi.
In addition, the forms of the verb imperfect duty would have the feature to indicate the future in the past.
- Lo sforzo del gruppo fu generoso, ma prima o poi la sconfitta doveva venire.
It is a phenomenon that is found mainly in the more elaborate set.
Other Uses of the Italian Present Perfect Conditional Tense
For the rest, the uses of the past conditional modeled with temporal characteristics (or aspectual) own, those of the present conditional. Clearly, for logical reasons, it will not be possible to make a suggestion, since the moment of enunciation is prior to the moment of a hypothetical event. Not even the use of courtesy, sporadically possible, has particular importance. Significant is rather the use to indicate information second hand, especially if dubious: Dopo una sparatoria, le truppe avrebbero lasciato la zona contesa alcune ore fa.
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