Stefano:	L’altro giorno, dopo aver visto il film “Assassinio sull’Orient Express”, sono andato su Internet per scoprire quali sono i viaggi turistici in treno più belli al mondo.
Benedetta:	Mi piace l’idea di fare una vacanza viaggiando in treno… la trovo un’idea molto originale!
Stefano:	Al giorno d’oggi siamo abituati a spostarci velocemente da una parte all’altra del mondo e probabilmente abbiamo perso il gusto per questo genere di viaggi.
Benedetta:	Sembra che questo film ti abbia ispirato parecchio… Ma bando alle ciance… hai scoperto nulla di interessante sul Web? Scommetto che tra i viaggi in treno più belli c’era anche la celebre Transiberiana, che attraversa da un capo all’altro l’ex impero sovietico.

In our previous lessons, we have gone over how coordinating conjunctions work in Italian. This lesson marks our first of many that will focus on subordinate conjunctions.

As we’ve stated before, subordinate conjunctions connect two clauses, one of which is syntactically subordinate to the other, and shed light on the logical relationship existing between the main clause and the subordinate clause. In other words, subordinate conjunctions conjoin clauses of unequal rank. Our declarative subordinate conjunctions below do just that, while shedding light on a statement made by either the speaker or someone else:

che = that
come = how (triggers the subjunctive)

The 2 clause-connecting conjunctions above are extremely common in Italian and can be used in ample ways. They usually connect the independent clause to the subordinate clause without any type of punctuation:

Paolo disse che non ricordava nulla. Paolo said that he did not remember anything. Mi raccontò come fosse affezionato a sua sorella. He told me how fond he was of his sister.

As we can see in the examples listed above, come, as a declarative conjunction, triggers a verb in the subjunctive mood, while verbs that follow the declarative che can be expressed either in the indicative or in the subjunctive mood.

Overall, the subordinate clauses above complete the statements or thoughts started in the main clause. They tend to carry the meat of the sentence, with the independent clause serving as a foundation.

A subordinate clause introduced by the conjunction che (or come) can be either an object noun clause, i.e. a noun clause that plays the role of direct object in a sentence, or a subject noun clause, i.e. a noun clause that plays the role of subject in a sentence:

Object noun clause: Matteo pensa che Giovanna sia innamorata di lui. Matteo thinks Giovanna is in love with him. Subject noun clause: È meglio che tu non faccia troppe domande. It is best that you do not ask too many questions. Object noun clause: Mi confessò come fosse stato impaziente di rivederla. He confessed to me how he had been looking forward to seeing her again. Subject noun clause: Era incredibile come fosse bella la città quella sera. It was amazing how beautiful the city looked that night.