Page 44 - verbo italiano

34 / Webster’s New World 575+ Italian Verbs

For example:
Penso che lui abbia ragione. I think he is right.
Pensavo che lui avesse ragione. I thought he was right.
Voglio che tu venga a cena. I want you to come to dinner.
Vorrei che tu venissi a cena. I would like you to come to dinner.

The past perfect subjunctive is used in place of the past perfect indicative when-
ever the subjunctive is required. It is also used when a verb in a dependent clause
is in the past tense or in the conditional and the action of the dependent clause
occurred before the action of the independent clause:
Pensavo che Vincent parlasse bene. I thought Vincent spoke well.
Pensavo che Vincent avesse I thought Vincent had talked well.
parlato bene.

Present-tense subjunctive

The present-tense subjunctive is formed by dropping –are, –ere, or –ire and adding
its characteristic endings to the infinitive stem, as shown in the following Table 12.
The subjunctive endings for the –ere and –ire verbs are the same. Verbs ending in
–ire that insert –isc in the indicative present tense do so also in the subjunctive.
Table 12 The Present Tense Subjunctive of Regular Verbs

Drop –are –ere –ire –ire (–isc)
(io) –i –a –a –isca
(tu) –i –a –a –isca
(lui/lei) –i –a –a –isca
(noi) –iamo –iamo –iamo –iamo
(voi) –iate –iate –iate –iate
(loro) –ino –ano –ano –iscano

parlare: parli, parli, parli, parliamo, parliate, parlino
prendere: prenda, prenda, prenda, prendiamo, prendiate, prendano
dormire: dorma, dorma, dorma, dormiamo, dormiate, dormano
capire: capisca, capisca, capisca, capiamo, capiate, capiscano

For reflexive verbs, simply place the reflexive pronoun before the verb (mi alzi, ti
alzi).

Note that:
• The singular forms of the present tense (io/tu/lui/lei) are the same. It is
advisable, therefore, to use the personal subject pronoun if it is not clear
from the context:
Spero che tu venga. I hope that you are coming.
Spero che lui venga. I hope that he is coming.
• The noi and voi forms (first- and second-person plural) have the same
endings for the –are, –ere, and –ire verbs.