Italian Past Conditional: A Simple Guide

Italian Past Conditional

In Italian, there are two types of conditionals: the present conditional (condizionale presente) and the past conditional (condizionale passato or composto).

The key difference between the two lies in their structure: the present conditional consists of a single element, while the past conditional is composed of two elements—an auxiliary verb and a past participle.

The auxiliary verb is formed using the present conditional of avere or essere, depending on the verb, and it is followed by the past participle of the main verb.

farei	Present Conditional	I’d do, I would do
avrei fatto	Past Conditional	I would have done

Present Conditional vs. Past Conditional

Condizionale Presente vs. Condizionale Passato

What’s the difference between present conditional and past conditional?

As the names suggest, the present conditional describes a situation that might or not happen in the present, today, or in general. 

Al posto tuo, comprerei una nuova macchina

In your place, I would buy a new car

Instead, the past conditional describes a situation that might have happened in the past (yesterday, last week, or 10 years ago) but didn’t, and you can’t change it.

10 anni fa, avrei comprato una casa a Roma ma non avevo soldi

10 years ago I would have bought a home in Rome, but I didn’t have enough money.

How to Conjugate the Past Conditional

The past conditional in Italian is always a combination of two elements: an auxiliary verb and a past participle.

1. Auxiliary Verb: As in other compound tenses (e.g., the passato prossimo), the auxiliary verb can be either essere or avere. The choice of auxiliary depends on the main verb being used:
   • Use essere with intransitive verbs, reflexive verbs, and some verbs indicating motion or change of state (e.g., andare, partire, diventare).
   • Use avere with transitive verbs (verbs that take a direct object, e.g., mangiare, leggere).
2. Past Participle: This is the second part of the construction, such as mangiato (eaten), andato (gone), or venduto(sold). The past participle agrees in gender and number with the subject when the auxiliary is essere.

To form the past conditional, use the present conditional of the auxiliary (essere or avere) + the past participle of the main verb. For example:

Past Conditional with avere

Person	Example	Translation
Io	avrei mangiato	I would have eaten
Tu	avresti letto	You would have read
Lui/Lei	avrebbe parlato	He/She would have spoken
Noi	avremmo scritto	We would have written
Voi	avreste comprato	You (plural) would have bought
Loro	avrebbero visto	They would have seen

Past Conditional with essere

Person	Example	Translation
Io	sarei andato/a	I would have gone
Tu	saresti rimasto/a	You would have stayed
Lui/Lei	sarebbe arrivato/a	He/She would have arrived
Noi	saremmo diventati/e	We would have become
Voi	sareste partiti/e	You (plural) would have left
Loro	sarebbero tornati/e	They would have returned

Remember, when using essere as the auxiliary, the past participle must agree in gender and number with the subject:

• Lui sarebbe andato (He would have gone)
• Lei sarebbe andata (She would have gone)
• Loro sarebbero andati (They would have gone, masculine or mixed group)
• Loro sarebbero andate (They would have gone, feminine group)

In summary, the formula is:

Present conditional of auxiliary verb (essere or avere) + past participle of the main verb

Examples:

• Io avrei comprato un regalo (I would have bought a gift)
• Tu saresti arrivato/a in tempo (You would have arrived on time)
• Loro avrebbero studiato di più (They would have studied more)

Present vs Past Conditional in Italian

INFINITIVE	Present Conditional [IT]	Present Conditional [ENG]	Past Conditional [IT]	Past Conditional [ENG]
mangiare	mangerei	I would eat	avrei mangiato	I would have eaten
fare	farei	I would do	avrei fatto	I would have done
andare	andrei	I would go	sarei andato/a	I would have gone
dovere	dovrei	I should	avrei dovuto	I should have
potere	potrei	I could	avrei potuto	I could have
volere	vorrei	I would like	avrei voluto	I would have liked

Generally speaking, the Italian past conditional corresponds to the English use of would have + any verb.

The past conditional can be referred too as a “compound conditional” (condizionale composto) because it combines two elements: an auxiliary and a past participle. 

Past Conditional of ESSERE and AVERE

Past Conditional of “ESSERE” (to be):

io	sarei stato/a	I would have been
tu	saresti stato/a	you would have been
lui/lei	sarebbe stato/a	he/she/it would have been
noi	saremmo stati/e	we would have been
voi	sareste stati/e	you would have been
loro	sarebbero stati/e	they would have been

Past Conditional of “AVERE” (to have):

io	avrei avuto	I would have had
tu	avresti avuto	you would have had
lui/lei	avrebbe avuto	he/she/it would have had
noi	avremmo avuto	we would have had
voi	avreste avuto	you would have had
loro	avrebbero avuto	they would have had

Main Uses of Condizionale Passato

The past conditional is used to:

1. Say what you would have done if.

Se avessi avuto più tempo, sarei andata in palestra

If I had more time, I would have gone to the gym

2.Say what you should or shouldn’t have done or what you could or couldn’t have done, with the use of the modal verbs dovere (must) and potere (can).

Avrei dovuto studiare di più, ma non ho avuto tempo	I should have studied more, but I didn’t have time
Avrei dovuto fare una dieta, ma ero in vacanza	I should have been on a diet, but I was on vacation
Avrei potuto chiamarlo, ma non l’ho fatto	I could have called him, but I didn’t

3. To say I wish or I would have liked.

Avrei voluto viaggiare di più da giovane

I wish I had traveled more when I was younger

4. to express the future in the past.

Mi ha chiamato per dirmi che non sarebbe venuta

She called me to say that she wouldn’t come

Past Conditional with the “if clause” (If I had had…)

We use the past conditional with the congiuntivo trapassato (perfect subjunctive) to say something that what we would have done if . We are describing something that might have happened in the past under certain circumstances, but eventually didn’t. This is also called “periodo ipotetico di terzo tipo”.

Certainly, here’s a chart for the provided Italian sentences along with their English translations:

Se avessi avuto più soldi, mi sarei iscritta ad una migliore università	If I had more money, I would have applied to a better school
Se avessi avuto più tempo, avrei praticato più sport	If I had more time, I would have exercised more

‘I could have done’ or ‘I should have done’:

The past conditional with ‘dovere’ and ‘potere’.

For a start, we call modal verbs are dovere, potere, volere. We call them “modal” because, grammar-wise, they have a lot in common. For instance, they are always followed by an infinitive verb.

So, when they are used with the past conditional, to say what one should have done, or could have done, just like in English, they comprise three elements: the auxiliary of the present conditional + past participle of the modal verb* + infinitive verb 

Examples : 

Avresti dovuto studiare di più	You should have studied more
Avresti potuto chiamarlo	You could have called him
Avremmo voluto viaggiare di più	We would have liked traveling more or we wish we traveled more

How to choose the correct auxiliary with modal verbs? 

A special note goes to choosing the correct auxiliary with the modal verbs in the past conditional.

When thinking of what auxiliary to use, you should look at the modal verb’s infinitive.

Let’s say the verb dovere is followed by andare, then the correct auxiliary to use is essere.

If the verb “fare” follows dovere, the correct auxiliary to use is avere. 

Examples 

Sarei dovuto andare in palestra, ma non ci sono andata	I should have gone to the gym, but I didn’t
Avrei dovuto fare i compiti, ma non li ho fatti	I should have done my homework, but I didn’t

If the auxiliary verb is essere, you should make sure that the modal verb’s past participle agrees with the gender and number of the subject. 

Examples:

I should have gone	sarei dovuto/a andare
We could have gone	saremmo potuti/e andare
I would have liked to go	sarei voluto/a andare
I should have traveled	avrei dovuto viaggiare
I could have traveled	avrei potuto viaggiare
I would have liked to travel	avrei voluto viaggiare

I wish:

Past Conditional of “piacere” & “volere”

The past conditional of piacere and volere is translated into English in the same way.

Mi sarebbe piaciuto studiare arabo	I would have liked learning Arabic
Avrei voluto studiare arabo	I would have liked learning Arabic

Often, the past conditional of piacere and volere is better translated into English with “I WISH“

Mi sarebbe piaciuto uscire con te	I wish I went out with you
Sarei voluto uscire con te	I would have liked to go out with you

Il futuro nel passato (the future in the past)

We use the past conditional to express the future in the past, that is to say, an action that took place after another one, in the past. 

In other words, the future in the past expresses a future event with reference to a past action.

This pattern is very often used with the verbs dire, pensare, credere, immaginare in the passato prossimo or imperfetto form. As you will see in the following sentences, both the actions described happened in the past. 

Examples:

Speravo che sarebbe venuto a trovarmi	I hoped he would come to see me
Anna ha detto che mi avrebbe chiamato	Anna said she would call me
Non credevamo che sarebbe arrivato primo	We didn’t think he would come first