Italian Past Conditional (Condizionale Passato)

What is the Past Conditional in Italian?

In Italian, the Past Conditional (Condizionale Passato or Condizionale Composto) expresses what would have happened in the past but didn’t: it shows regret, missed opportunities, or unreal past situations.

Structure:
Present Conditional of avere or essere + Past Participle

How to Form the Past Conditional

Choose the correct auxiliary:

• Use avere for transitive verbs (mangiare, leggere, fare).
• Use essere for intransitive verbs, verbs of motion/state, and reflexive verbs (andare, partire, arrivare).

Add the past participle:

• With essere, the participle must agree in gender and number with the subject.

Past Conditional with Avere

Past Conditional with Essere

? 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)

Present vs. Past Conditional in Italian

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):

Past Conditional of “AVERE” (to have):

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Uses of the Condizionale Passato (Italian Past Conditional)

The past conditional in Italian is mainly used to:

1) Express what you would have done (hypothetical past)

It often appears with an if clause using the congiuntivo trapassato (past perfect subjunctive).

Examples:

Se avessi avuto più tempo, sarei andata in palestra.
(If I had had more time, I would have gone to the gym.)

Se avessi avuto più soldi, mi sarei iscritta a un’università migliore.
(If I had had more money, I would have enrolled in a better university.)

2) Say what you should have, could have, or would have liked to do

Use the past conditional with modal verbs dovere (should), potere (could), and volere (would have liked).

Examples:

Avrei dovuto studiare di più.
(I should have studied more.)

Avrei potuto chiamarlo.
(I could have called him.)

Avrei voluto viaggiare di più.
(I would have liked to travel more.)

3) Express wishes or unrealized desires

Use piacere and volere in the past conditional to express regrets or wishes.

Examples:

Mi sarebbe piaciuto studiare arabo.
(I would have liked to study Arabic.)

Avrei voluto uscire con te.
(I would have liked to go out with you.)

Mi sarebbe piaciuto uscire con te.
(I wish I had gone out with you.)

4) Express future in the past

Used to describe something that was supposed to happen after another past event.

Examples:

Non credevamo che sarebbe arrivato primo.
(We didn’t think he would come first.)

Mi ha chiamato per dirmi che non sarebbe venuta.
(She called me to say she wouldn’t come.)

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.)

Read more:

• Italian Present Conditional (Condizionale Present)
• Italian “If Clause” (Periodo Ipotetico)