The Italian Subjunctive - Il Congiuntivo

Welcome to THE ULTIMATE GUIDE to finally understanding and using the Italian subjunctive correctly! In this video I will show you how and when to use it, I will give you a list of verbs that trigger the use of the subjunctive and I will show you the conjugation in the present tense.

Download the entire lesson in PDF format here!

I will go slow and I want to make sure that you understand it perfectly! It’s a long video but it’s worth it! trust me! Like and share it if you find it useful! 

To understand when you need to use it you first need to understand the difference between a subordinate or dependent clause and main clause. 

A clause is a group of words that creates a sentence. It needs a verb and a subject.

You can have different types of clauses and the ones that you need for the Italian subjunctive are the main clause and the subordinate or very often called the dependent clause.

A main clause is a clause that makes sense on its own and can also exist in a sentence on its own. A dependent clause is a clause that does not make sense on its own and cannot be a sentence on its own.

For example:

I met her in Rome, where I lived as a teenager.

• I met her in Rome is your main clause
• where is the connective word 
• I lived as a teenager is your dependent clause.

Talking about the Italian subjunctive you can have main clauses that look like this:

• Penso che… (I think that)
• Voglio che… (I want that)
• Spero che.. (I hope that)
• Sono felice che…(I’m happy that)

take note that your dependent clause that will come right after the word “che.” 

Here are some examples: 

• Penso che (main clause), tu sia bellissimo (dependent clause) - (I think that you are beautiful)
• Spero che (main clause), che domani non piova (dependent clause) - (I hope it will not rain tomorrow)

Very often you will see that after CHE you will have a personal pronoun.

• Penso che TU
• Spero che LEI
• Sono felice che VI

Take note that you will use this structure very often!

WHAT is the subjunctive?

The subjunctive is an Italian verb tense that you will use when you want to express opinions, feelings, uncertainty, possibility, wishes, or doubts.

WHERE in the sentence are you going to use it?

Most of the time, the subjunctive is used in a dependent clause and so after a main clause.You will need to focus on the main clause. By analyzing the verbs and phrases of the main clause you can understand if you need this specific verb tense. For once there is actually a list of verbs and phrases that express opinions, wishes, doubts, feelings, and uncertainties that you can study memorize. 

For example verbs like “credere” “pensare” “sperare,” trigger the use of the subjunctive. Trust me the more you use it the more it will become automatic… your brain will just “feel” like it’s the right verb tense to use.  

Here are verbs that typically express opinion, uncertainty, possibility, or doubt:

• Pensare che – to think that
• Credere che – to believe that
• Immaginare che – to imagine that
• Avere l’impressione che – to have the impression that
• Supporre che – to suppose that
• Dubitare che – to doubt that
• Non sapere che – to not know that
• Non essere sicuro che – to not be sure that
• Non essere certo che – to not be certain that

Verbs typically used to express feelings, such as happiness or fear

• Essere felice che – to be happy that 
• Essere dispiaciuto/a che – to be sorry that
• Avere paura che – to be afraid that
• Temere che – to be afraid that

Verbs typically used to express wishes:

• Volere che – to want that
• Desiderare che – to wish that
• Preferire che – to prefer that
• Sperare che – to hope that

The subjunctive is also used with impersonal verbs (so those verbs that don’t have an explicit subject). 

• basta che… – it is enough (that) . . .
• bisogna che… – it is necessary (that)
• vale la pena che… – it is worth (that)
• si dice che… – it’s said (that)
• dicono che… – they say(that)
• sembra che… – it seems (that)

 or with impersonal expressions. (these are expressions formed with the verb “to be” and an adjective)

• è bene che… - it is good (that)
• è difficile che…- it is hard (that)
• è facile che…- it is easy (that)
• è giusto che…- it is right (that)
• è importante che…- it is important (that)
• è male che…- it is bad (that)
• è meglio che…- it is better (that)
• è necessario che…- it is necessary (that)
• è peccato che…- it is a pity (that)
• è possibile che…- it is possible (that)
• è raro che…- it is rare (that)
• è urgente che…- it is urgent (that) 

BE CAREFUL remember that we are using the subjunctive when we talk about something that is not certain. So when on the other hand you have impersonal expressions that indicate that something is certain you will NOT use the subjunctive but you will use the indicative. for example. 

• è certo che… – it is certain (that)
• è evidente che… – it is evident (that)
• è ovvio che che… – it is obvious (that)

The verbs and expressions mentioned up to now will need a subjunctive only when the subjects of the two phrases (main clause and dependent clause) are different!

Look at this sentence:

Penso che Maria sia molto bella.

• The main close is Penso che and the subject is IO (I think that)
• the subject of the dependent clause is MARIA so LEI.
• As you can see the two parts of the full sentence have different subjects!

This is not the case if the main clause and the dependent clause have the same subject. When this happens you will need to use an infinitive and not a subjunctive:

• Mauro pensa di essere molto bello – He thinks he’s very beautiful.
• Lei è felice di aver superato l’esame – She is happy she has passed the exam.

We can now focus on the conjugation of the subjunctive in the present tense.

We will work with regular verbs. 

FIRST RULE: the first, second and third person (io, tu and lui/lei) have the same conjugation. So they end in the same way!

Let’s look at how to conjugate the verbs the regular verbs.

As always we will break down the verbs based on how they end. So you will learn to conjugate verbs that end with ARE - ERE and IRE

Ending -ARE. Like these verbs: PARLARE - AMARE - LAVORARE - MANGIARE

Ending -ERE. Like these verbs: RIDERE - CORRERE - CHIEDERE - SCRIVERE

Ending -IRE. Like these verbs: APRIRE - SENTIRE - DORMIRE - OFFRIRE

Obviously there are some tricky irregular verbs. And I strongly suggest that you memorize these because they are very very common especially in spoken language. What is usually irregular in the other verb tenses will also be irregular in the subjunctive. Look at the conjugations of essere and avere. Following I will give you a list of the irregular conjugation of the first person singular of the most common verbs and you can follow the pattern have you noticed that the NOI (first person singular is the same and the present tense?)

This is a list of the most common irregular forms of the present subjunctive I will show you the firs person and you can match the correct endings:

•  essere (to be) → sia
•  avere (to have) → abbia
•  andare (to go)→ vada
•  fare (to do)  → faccia
•  dire (to say) → dica
•  dare (to give) → dia
•  volere (to want) → voglia
•  dovere (must)→ debba
•  potere (to have to)→ possa
•  tenere (to keep) → tenga 
•  stare (to stay) → stia 

f you have been studying Italian for a while you know that the verbs that end in CARE and GARE are always a bit tricky right?

Keep in mind that also with the subjunctive they need to change a little bit. They will need the H also with this verb tense. 

Now take note that there is also a past subjunctive, and imperfect subjunctive and a past perfect subjunctive but to start off learn the present subjunctive since it’s the most common one.

Learn this first then learn the other tenses of the subjunctive.