Benedetta:	Sapresti rispondere se ti chiedessi qual è una delle feste del periodo invernale più antiche e amate della storia d’Italia?
Stefano:	Sarebbe più facile se tu mi dessi qualche altro piccolo dettaglio.
Benedetta:	Allora… posso dirti che è nata come una festa pagana, ma che poi è stata adottata dal cattolicesimo. L’ultimo giorno delle sue celebrazioni, generalmente coincide con l’inizio del periodo di astinenza e digiuno della Quaresima.
Stefano:	Ah, ho capito! Stai parlando del carnevale!
Benedetta:	Bravissimo, si tratta proprio del carnevale, la festa più gioiosa e divertente dell’anno! Pensa alle famose maschere di Venezia, alla battaglia delle Arance di Ivrea, o ai carri allegorici di Viareggio, Acireale e Putignano…

Now that we have investigated the various situations in which one must use the conditional tense, we can take a closer look into the conditional’s relationship with the subjunctive mood in Italian. We have briefly touched upon constructions that warrant the use of both the conditional and the subjunctive, such as If-Clauses; for the next few lessons, we will elaborate on precisely when the aforementioned moods coexist in a sentence.

As we know, when the independent clause of a sentence bears a subjunctive trigger, such as pensare, sperare, preferire, suggerire, etc., the verb in the embedded clause is most of the time expressed in the subjunctive mood. In this lesson, we will shed light on what happens when the subjunctive-trigger verb is in the conditional mood:

Vorrei che mi cantassi una canzone d’amore. I would like for you to sing me a love song. Avrei preferito che fosse stata Natalia a lavare la mia macchina. I would have preferred for Natalia to have washed my car.

As the examples above demonstrate, when the subjunctive trigger in the independent clauses is in a conditional mood, whether present or past, the verb in the embedded clause must be in either the imperfect or past perfect subjunctive.

Our first example above expresses a desired action that has not yet taken place, therefore cantare must be in the imperfect subjunctive. Our second example expresses how the car has already been washed, though not by the person preferred. Because the event itself has already taken place, though, the verb in the embedded clause--essere--must be in the past perfect subjunctive.

It is important to note that the verb in the embedded clause does not necessarily have to be in the past perfect subjunctive if the trigger verb is in the past conditional, as our example above shows. Take a look at the following two examples:

Avremmo voluto che tu venissi con noi al cinema. We would have wanted/liked for you to come with us to the movies. Avremmo voluto che tu fossi venuto con noi al cinema. We would have wanted/liked for you to have come with us to the movies.

If we look at the English translations for the two examples provided above, we can see the slight difference in the meaning of venire. In the first example, venire is in the imperfect subjunctive because the action of going to the movies itself has not yet happened. Our second example contains venire in the past perfect subjunctive, meaning that the subjects of the sentence already went to the movies, and they wish the person they are speaking to would have gone with them.