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Congiuntivo Presente
The verb forms you have learned so far belong to the indicative mood, which states facts and conveys certainty or objectivity
The subjunctive mood, in contrast, express uncertainty doubt, possibility, or personal feelings rather than fact. It conveys the opinions and attitudes of the speaker.
Indicativo Congiuntivo
Gli studenti organizzano una manifestazione. Credo che gli studenti
Students are organizing a demonstration organizzino una manifestazione
Anche gli insegnanti fanno sciopero. È probabile che anche gli insegnanti facciano
The teachers are striking too. It’s probable that teachers are striking too.
Il governo non applica le riforme È male che il governo non applichi le riforme
The government isn’t enforcing the reform. It’s bad that the government isn’t forcing the reforms.
In English, the subjunctive is used infrequently: I move that the meeting be adjourned. We suggest that he go home immediately. In Italian, however, the subjunctive is used often, in both speaking and writing.
- In Italian the subjunctive is generally used in the dependent clause of a two-clause sentence, just as in English. You can see this pattern in the following chart:
Independent clause (in indicativo) + che + dependent clause (in congiuntivo).
Credo che organizzino una manifestazione.
The subjunctive mood has four tenses: present, past, imperfect, and plurperfect. You will learn how to form the present subjunctive in this section; the past subjunctive is presented in Grammatica C of this chapter.
- The present subjunctive (il congiuntivo presente) is formed by adding the appropriate endings to the infinitive stem. There are different endings for -are, -ere, and -ire verbs. Verbs ending in -ire that insert -isc in the present indicative also do so in the present subjunctive.
Che io parli scriva dorma capisca
Che tu parli scriva dorma capisca
Che lui/lei parli scriva dorma capisca
Che noi parliamo scriviamo dormiamo capiamo
Che voi parliate scriviate dormiate capiate
Che loro parlino scrivano dormano capiscano
Note in the preceding chart that most forms of the present subjunctive of -are verbs have i endings, while most forms of -ere and -ire verbs have a endings. Note also that the three singular forms of the present subjunctive are identical. For this reason subject pronouns are often used with them to avoid confusion or misunderstandings
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- Verbs whose infinitives end in -care and -gare add an h, in all persons, between the stem and the present subjunctive endings
E bene che il governo cerchi di diminuire le tasse
Purtroppo, bisogna che tutti paghino le tasse
- Verbs ending in -iare drop the i from the stem before adding the present subjunctive endings.
È necessario che cominciate a organizzarvi!
Quando si è disoccupati, è probabile che si magi meno
The following verbs have irregular present subjunctive forms. As with regular verbs, all three singular forms of these verbs are identical
Andare- vada andiamo andiate vadano
Avere- abbia abbiamo abbiate abbiano
Bere- beva beviamo beviate bevano
Dare- dia diamo diate diano
Dire- dica diciamo diciate dicano
Dovere- debba dobbiamo dobbiate debbano
Essere- sia siamo siate siano
Fare- faccia facciamo facciate facciano
Piacere- piaccia piacciano
Potere- possa possiamo possiate possano
Sapere- sappia stiamo stiate stiano
Uscire- esca usciamo usciate escano
Venire- venga veniamo veniate vengano
Volere- voglia vogliamo vogliate vogliano
The subjunctive is not used in every sentence that has an independant and a dependent clause. You will learn how to decide when to use the subjunctive in the dependent clause in grammatica B. However, you will use the subjunctive in the dependent clause of all of the exercise items in this section. Pay attention to the content of the independent clauses and see if you can predict what a “clausing” the use of the subjunctive in the dependent clauses.
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