Italian Essentials: Congiuntivo Passato (Past Perfect Subjunctive)

avatarMille Larsen
2 mins read

Subjunctive week continues! We've already figured out exactly what the subjunctive mood is, and how it is used. And we've looked at using the subjunctive in Italian with il congiuntivo presente and il congiuntivo imperfetto. Today, we're going to find out about il congiuntivo passato.

Il congiuntivo passato

The congiuntivo passato, or past perfect subjunctive, is really just the subjunctive form of the passato prossimo. As always, you use either avere or essere with the past participle of the verb. The only new detail is that the verb avere or essere will have been conjugated according to the congiuntivo presente, or present subjunctive:

  avere essere
io abbia sia
tu abbia sia
lui/lei abbia sia
noi abbiamo siamo
voi abbiate siate
loro abbiano siano

So just apply what you learned about the congiuntivo presente to what you already know about the passato prossimo and you're all set.

Examples

parlare:

Mi dispiace che abbia parlato così.

I'm sorry that he spoke that way.

partire:

Lucia pensa che Maria sia partita ieri per le vacanze.

Lucia thinks that Maria left yesterday for vacation.

innaffiare:

Gli zucchini sono morti benché li abbia innaffiati tutti i giorni.

The zucchini plants died even though I watered them every day.

andare:

Non credo che siano andati in Italia.

I don't think they went to Italy.

Tomorrow, we’ll complete the quartet of subjunctive verb forms with the congiuntivo trapassato.

Loading...
Loading...