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38 / Webster’s New World 575+ Italian Verbs

Past perfect subjunctive

In Italian, the past perfect subjunctive is formed by combining the imperfect sub-
junctive of the appropriate auxiliary verb (avere: avessi, avessi, avesse, avessimo,
aveste, avessero or essere: fossi, fossi, fosse, fossimo, foste, fossero) plus the past
participle of the main verb. See the “Past Participle” section for an explanation on
forming the Italian past participle, and see the “Avere or Essere?” section for an
explanation of when to use essere or avere as auxiliary verbs. The following chart
shows examples of the formation of the past perfect. The helping verbs avere and
essere are in the imperfect subjunctive. The past participle of the verbs lavorare,
ricevere, dormire, and arrivare are given. The past participle agrees with the subject
in number and gender when the verb is conjugated with essere.
Past Perfect with avere Past Perfect with essere
(io) avessi lavorato/ricevuto/dormito fossi arrivato/arrivata
(tu) avessi lavorato/ricevuto/dormito fossi arrivato/arrivata
(lui/lei) avesse lavorato/ricevuto/dormito fosse arrivato/arrivata
(noi) avessimo lavorato/ricevuto/dormito fossimo arrivati/arrivate
(voi) aveste lavorato/ricevuto/dormito foste arrivati/arrivate
(loro) avessero lavorato/ricevuto/dormito fossero arrivati/arrivate

Imperative Mood

The imperative expresses orders, pleas, exhortations, advice (“be good,” “stay at
home,” “let’s go”). In the negative form, the imperative expresses a prohibition.
The imperative has only the present tense. Because of the special nature of its
usage, there is no third-person form of the imperative. The imperative is used only
when addressing someone directly—thus, only the “you” forms exist. In Italian, the
imperative mood can be expressed informally and formally. There is also a com-
mand form for noi corresponding to the English command expressions “let’s” or
“let’s not.”

Informal Formal
addressing one person tu Lei
addressing two or more people voi (loro)
let’s noi –

Only the tu form of –are verbs; avere and essere have a separate imperative form.
All other subjects use for the imperative either the present indicative or the present
subjunctive forms for that person.

INFORMAL IMPERATIVE: AFFIRMATIVE AND

NEGATIVE

The affirmative imperative forms for tu, noi, and voi are identical to the corre-
sponding present-tense forms, with one difference: The tu imperative of regular