Past conditional (condizionale passato) in Italian

The conditional past tense or conditional perfect tense in Italian is called condizionale passato. It is the past tense of the conditional mood.

Definition and usage of the condizionale passato

The condizionale passato is used to:

1. make suggestions and give advice
2. express doubts
3. express an impossible desire or wish (condizionale ottativo)
4. report something you are not sure about (condizionale di dissociazione)
5. express hypothesis in the hypothetical period (periodo ipotetico dell'irrealtà)

The condizionale passato can be used both in main clauses and in subordinate clauses.
E.g. Lorenzo avrebbe voluto un bicchiere d'acqua (Lorenzo would have liked a glass of water)
Penso che avresti dovuto salutarla (I think you should have said hello to her)

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Conjugation of the condizionale passato

The condizionale passato if formed by:

Condizionale presente of the auxiliary verb + past participle (participio passato) of the main verb

Conjugation of regular verbs

Here you can find out how regular verbs form the condizionale passato.

Verbs that belong to the -are conjugation

These verbs form the condizionale passato as follows:

Example amare (to love)

Verbs that belong to the -ere conjugation

Such verbs form the condizionale passato as follows:

Example temere (to fear)

Verbs that belong to the -ire conjugation

These verbs form the condiizonale passato as follows:

Example dormire (to sleep)

Conjugation of irregular verbs

Here you can find a list of the main irregular verbs in the condizionale passato.

Auxiliary verbs: esserre/avere

Here is the conjugation for the auxiliary verbs essere and avere.

*Remember that when you use the auxiliary verb essere, the past participle must agree with the subject in genser and number!

Examples:

• Marco avrebbe avuto due cani se avesse avuto una casa più grande (Marco would have had two dogs if he had had a bigger house)
• Ginevra, Giorgio e Caterina sarebbero stati in Giappone se non ci fosse stato il terremoto (Ginevra, Giorgio and Caterina would have been in Japan if there hadn't been an earthquake)

Now it's time you test what you've learned on the condizionale passato with our exercises!