Vuoi fare bella figura? Usa il condizionale presente!
What is a bella figura? It’s a good impression. Read this article if you want to make a bella figura!
Your new friend: the present conditional
The present conditional tense is extremely versatile: mastering its usage in Italian will enhance your communication skills and leave a positive impression. This tense is very common in everyday conversation, from chatting with friends to ordering your favourite meal at your go-to restaurant in Italy, so the use of the conditional is a practical skill that is never too early to acquire.
When to use the present conditional
We use the present conditional tense to:
- Express a wish: Un giorno vorrei visitare la Sicilia. I would like to visit Sicily one day.
- Make a polite request: Potresti passarmi il sale, per favore? Could you pass me the salt, please?
- Express a possibility or make a hypothesis: Sarebbe divertente partecipare a un corso di cucina insieme. It would be fun to take a cooking class together.
- Give advice: Secondo me dovresti leggere quel libro, è davvero interessante. In my opinion, you should read that book; it’s really interesting.
- Make a suggestion: Potremmo andare al cinema stasera. We could go to the movies tonight.
Vorrei, potresti, sarebbe, dovresti, potremmo are all examples of present conditional.
How to form the present conditional
The regular conjugation of the present conditional is quite simple: verbs in -ARE and verbs in -ERE follow the same pattern, while verbs in -IRE just change the -E- to -I-.
Two spelling rules to keep in mind for some verbs:
- Verbs ending in -ciare and –giare lose the I before the ending: Io mangerei qualcosa, ma non so cosa. I would eat something, but I don’t know what. Mangerei, not *mangierei.
- Verbs ending in -care and -gare add an H before the ending to maintain the hard sound of c and g: Pagherei io il conto, ma ho lasciato il portafogli in macchina. I would pay the bill, but I left my wallet in the car. Pagherei, not *pagerei.
The conditional of irregular verbs
Many common verbs are irregular, but they share a common pattern.
Dare, fare and stare keep the A in their endings:
Other verbs drop the first E of their endings: Avresti un po’ di farina? Do you have some flour? Avresti, not *averesti.
These verbs include: andare, avere, dovere, potere, sapere, vedere, vivere:
The verb volere changes its stem from VOL- to VOR-. Vorrei fare una torta. I’d like to bake a cake. Vorrei, not *volerei.
Some other verbs behave like volere: they drop the E of the infinitive, and the last consonant of the verb stem changes to R: rimanere, tenere, venire. Verrei al cinema con te, ma quel film non mi piace. I would go to the cinema with you, but I don’t like that film. So it’s verrei, not *venirei; rimarrei, not *rimanerei; terrei, not *tenirei.
Sarei e andrei
The verb to be, essere, is in many languages the most irregular of all. In the present conditional it has a completely different stem: we do not say *esserei but sarei, not *esseresti but saresti, and so on.
The same is true for the verb andare: while the present indicative alternates between the stem VAD and the stem AND, the present conditional is based solely on the stem AND:
Let’s practise!
E ora un piccolo esercizio! Completa le frasi con il condizionale presente. Complete the sentences with the present conditional and Write your answers in the comments!
- (Io, volere) _________ un caffè corretto, per favore.
- (Tu, venire) _________ a Milano con me la settimana prossima?
- (Loro, potere) _________ aiutarci, ma sono pigri.
- Al tuo posto, non (io, dare) _________ la mia auto a Paolo.
Alla prossima,
Anna
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