To form the present subjunctive in Italian, drop the infinitive endings and add the present subjunctive endings. For example, a regular -are verb like ascoltare meaning to listen would be: (io, tu, lui/lei) ascolti, (noi) ascoltiamo, (voi) ascoltiate, and (loro) ascoltino. To form the past subjunctive, on the other hand, you need the present subjunctive forms of verbs essere or avere plus a past participle.
Recall that the subjunctive mood in Italian has four tenses: present, past, imperfect, and pluperfect. In this post we’ll cover the regular and irregular forms of the present subjunctive, then we’ll go over the past subjunctive.
Without further ado, let’s see some tips on how to form the present subjunctive, and how to form the past subjunctive! Penso che siate pronti! meaning I think you are ready! Let's go!
How to form the present subjunctive of regular verbs in Italian?
Like the present indicative, the present subjunctive in Italian is conjugated by first dropping the infinitive ending and then adding the appropriate subjunctive endings.
To make sure you do this correctly, you’ll need to start by splitting up our verbs into the three main verb groups. Let’s refresh our memory. In Italian the three main verb groups are those ending in ‑are, ‑ere, and ‑ire.
In this section we’ll start by teaching you how to form the present subjunctive of the verbs ending in ‑are, then we'll look at ‑ere and ‑ire patterns.
The present subjunctive of ‘-are’ verbs
The chart below illustrates the difference between the present subjunctive and the present indicative of an -are verb in Italian. Since the subjunctive is always talking about feelings, we’ve started you off with the most romantic verb: amare meaning to love.
| Subject Pronoun | Present Subjunctive 💚 | Present Indicative 🧠 |
|---|---|---|
io | am-i | am-o |
tu | am-i | am-o |
lui/lei/Lei | am-i | am-a |
noi | am-iamo | am-iamo |
voi | am-iate | am-ate |
loro | am-ino | am-ano |
Let’s break down those three -are endings:
The three singular subject pronouns, io meaning I, tu meaning you, sing., and lei/lui meaning s/he have the same subjunctive ending: -i (just like the tu form of the indicative).
io ami = tu ami = lui/lei ami
For voi meaning you, plural, just add an -i before the indicative ending (-ate).
amate → amiate.
For the third person plural loro meaning they, just add -no to the subjunctive lei/lui form.
lui/lei ami → loro amino
That’s a super cool trick!
A couple spelling pointers:
Just like in the indicative, when you conjugate verbs with a hard “g” or “c” before the ending, like pagare meaning to pay and cercare meaning to look for, you'll need to add an h before the ending to keep the hard sound in front of the i.
…che io paghiTranslation: …that I pay…che io cerchiTranslation: …that I look forAlso, with verbs that already have an i before the ending, like mangiare meaning to eat and cominciare meaning to begin don’t add a second i to form the subjunctive. Only use one i as in the indicative:
…che lui mangiTranslation: …that he eats…che tu cominciTranslation: …that you begin
The present subjunctive of‘-ere,’ ‘-ire,’ and two-stem ‘-ire’ verbs
The charts below illustrate the present subjunctive forms of -ere verbs and -ire verbs:
| Subject Pronoun | -ere verbs | -ire verbs | |
|---|---|---|---|
io | prend-a | dorm-a | finisc-a |
tu | prend-a | dorm-a | finisc-a |
lei/lui | prend-a | dorm-a | finisc-a |
noi | prend-iamo | dorm-iamo | fin-iamo |
voi | prend-iate | dorm-iate | fin-iate |
loro | prend-ano | dorm-ano | finisc-ano |
Pretty cool, huh? Regular verbs in -ere and -ire have the same conjugation pattern and, like the verbs in -are, noi meaning we follows the present indicative:
| Present Subjunctive | Present Indicative |
|---|---|
prend-iamo | prend-iamo |
dorm-iamo | dorm-iamo |
fin-iamo | fin-iamo |
Hence only three present subjunctive endings to learn!
Let’s break -ere and -ire verbs down:
The first three (singular) subject pronouns io meaning I, tu meaning you, sing., lei/lui meaning s/he have the same ending: -a
io/tu/lei/lui + prenda / dorma / finisca
For the voi meaning you, plural form, change the first vowel of the present indicative endings -ete or -ite to -ia:
prendete → prendiate
dormite → dormiate
finite → finiate
For the loro meaning they form, use -a instead of the o of the present indicative: -ono:
prendono → prendano
dormono → dormano
finiscono → finiscano
What are the irregular verbs in the present subjunctive?
The “lucky seven” irregular verbs you need to know by heart to impress your Italian friends are:
essere meaning to be
avere meaning to have
andare meaning to go
venire meaning to come
fare meaning to do
dare meaning to give
sapere meaning to know
Let's look at their forms!
| Irregular Verb | Conjugations (Present Subjunctive) |
|---|---|
essere |
|
avere |
|
andare |
|
venire |
|
| Irregular Verb | Conjugations (Present Subjunctive) |
|---|---|
fare |
|
dare |
|
sapere |
|
You can find other irregular verbs in the present subjunctive in the linked tables!
How to form the past subjunctive in Italian?
Finally, the past subjunctive is easy, once you know the present subjunctive of avere meaning to have and essere meaning to be. Just add the past participle and you have it!
avere meaning to have / essere meaning to be
(present subjunctive)
past participle
Check out our post on when to use essere or avere in compound tenses if you need a refresher!
Summary
The singular forms (io, tu, lui/lei) of the present subjunctive have the same endings:
-i (for -are verbs)
-a (for -ere and -ire verbs)
-are verbs keep the -i throughout the conjugation
-ere and -ire verbs use -(i)a throughout the conjugation
noi meaning we is the same as the present indicative
Plan on learning by heart at least the lucky seven irregular verbs!
To form the past subjunctive, just learn avere and essere by heart in the present subjunctive and add the past participle.
Time to practice! Check our activities on the present and past subjunctive! Or, if you think you’ve already mastered these forms, head over to our post on the other two subjunctive past tenses: the imperfect and the pluperfect subjunctive!
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