88 IL CONDIZIONALE

Studiamo!

https://open.muhlenberg.pub/italiano-elementare-2/chapter/il-condizionale-presente/

To say what you would do hypothetically you use the conditional mood (condizionale). You have already seen some examples of the conditional with expressions like vorrei (I would like/want), mi piacerebbe (I would like) and dovrei (I should). We usually use the conditional to talk about hypothetical situations, like what would happen under certain “conditions” (thus the term conditional).

(a) IL CONDIZIONALE DEI VERBI REGOLARI

In English we say “would” + [verb]: I would go; She would like; He would have eaten; etc. In Italian, the conditional is formed by using the future stem + these ending, as seen here:

Non comprerei questa macchina ! Finirebbe il progetto ma non ha tempo! (I would not buy that car. He would finish the project, but he doesn’t have the time.)

Ci piacerebbe parlare con il dottore. Pascale e Anne prenderebbero il treno. (We would like to speak with the doctor. Pascale and Anne would take the train.)

It is important to remember that the word would is also used in English to express the past imperfect tense, for habitual actions in the past:

I would go to the arcade all the time when I was a kid.

This is not the conditional because it is not hypothetical. It is something I did all the time in the past.

Context is everything. For example, the following sentence could be interpreted as the imperfect (in the past) or the conditional (in the present):

I would go to the arcade if my mother let me.

The word if is key here. It might be less ambiguous if we say when or whenever instead:

I would go to the arcade whenever my mother let me.

Now we are clearly dealing with the imperfect past, not the conditional. We will take a closer look at the use of if (se) with the conditional below.

(b) Il condizionale dei verbi irregolari.

Any verb that is irregular in the future tense is also irregular in the conditional:

There are more irregular verbs, but for now remember those.

(c) The conditional is often used to make requests in a polite way, or to soften a command:

Vorrei un caffè per favore. (I would like a café au lait, please.)

Mi potrebbe raccomandare un buon ristorante ? (Could you recommend a good restaurant?)

Avrebbe l’ora? (Would you have the time/ Could you tell me the time?)

Dovrebbe fare più attenzione. (You should pay more attention.)