Italian Language Lessons
Grammar, spelling, and usage
Italian Past Perfect Subjunctive Tense
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To complete the fourth of subjunctive-tense verb forms, there's the congiuntivo trapassato (referred to as the past perfect subjunctive in English), which is a compound tense. Form this tense with the congiuntivo imperfetto of the auxiliary verb avere or essere and the past participle of the acting verb (see the table below).
| TRAPASSATO CONGIUNTIVO OF THE VERBS AVERE AND ESSERE |
|---|
| PRONOUN | AVERE | ESSERE |
|---|
| che io | avessi avuto | fossi stato(-a) |
| che tu | avessi avuto | fossi stato(-a) |
| che lui/lei/Lei | avesse avuto | fosse stato(-a) |
| che noi | avessimo avuto | fossimo stati(-e) |
| che voi | aveste avuto | foste stati(-e) |
| che loro/Loro | avessero avuto | fossero stati(-e) |
Here are a few examples of the trapassato congiuntivo:
Speravo che avessero capito. (I was hoping they had understood.)
Avevo paura che non avessero risolto quel problema. (I was afraid they hadn't resolved that problem.)
Vorrebbero che io raccontassi una storia. (They would like me to tell a story.)
Non volevo che tu lo facessi così presto. (I didn't want you to do it as soon.)
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