Benedetta:	Da piccolo hai mai letto Topolino, il fumetto della Disney edito in Italia dalla casa editrice Panini?
Nicola:	Ovviamente! Da sempre sono un appassionato lettore delle avventure del topo più famoso del mondo! Ne ho un’intera collezione, figurati! Se avessi più tempo, li leggerei anche adesso.
Benedetta:	Ti confesso che io, invece, da ragazzina questi fumetti non li amavo un granché. Di recente, però, ho cambiato opinione dopo aver letto un episodio di Topolino molto educativo alla mia nipotina.
Nicola:	Mi fa piacere! E di cosa parlava questa avventura di Topolino?
Benedetta:	Parlava di Napoli e di alcuni dei suoi meravigliosi tesori. L’episodio, ambientato nella Roma imperiale, racconta di Paperonius, antenato del celebre personaggio Zio Paperone, mentre è intento a costruire una splendida villa in uno dei luoghi di villeggiatura più in voga del momento.

In this lesson we will focus on hypothetical constructions that focus on situations unlikely to happen. These syntactic constructions steer away from realistic scenarios, which we explored over the course of last lesson, and focus more on possibility and probability, shedding light on the outcome of a hypothetical yet unlikely condition:

Se Beatrice dormisse le sue 8 ore, non sarebbe così stanca. If Beatrice slept her full 8 hours, she would not be so tired.

In the example above, the speaker is expressing how Beatrice would be less fatigued provided that she gets her full 8 hours of rest. This statement falls under the realm of possibility; Beatrice could potentially be less tired on the condition that she sleeps enough. It is implied that the speaker assumes it unlikely for Beatrice to sleep more (and, therefore, for her to be less tired). Let’s look at another example:

Se Anna e Giacomo studiassero di più, passerebbero l'esame di ammissione senza difficoltà. If Anna and Giacomo studied more, they would pass the admission exam without difficulty.

Again, the example above expresses how Anna and Giacomo would pass the exam on the condition that they put more time into studying. Though the speaker finds it improbable that this will happen (as is expressed by the hypothetical construction) the main clause explains the result (passing the admission exam) of the condition if it were to come to fruition.

To form this type of construction, we need to use the imperfect subjunctive in the se-clause, and the present conditional in the independent clause:

Dependent Clause (Condition)	Independent Clause (Result)
Se + Imperfect Subjunctive	Present Conditional

(For an overview of the imperfect subjunctive conjugations, see the Introduction to the Imperfect Subjunctive lesson; for a review of the conditional mood, refer to The Conditional Mood lesson)

NB: The order of the clauses in the sentence can be switched: the se-clause doesn’t always have to come first! However, it is important to remember that the imperfect subjunctive verb only belongs in the se-clause, while the conditional verb belongs in the independent clause. They never swap places!