As with other tenses, the present subjunctive has its fair share of irregular verbs. These are verbs that, as you may recall, break the set conjugation pattern in a given language in order to, essentially, do what they want. (We can call them the “rebels” of the language.)
In our last lesson, we went over how the subjunctive mood is used to express uncertainty, doubt, and possibility. Furthermore, the subjunctive tense usually requires a two-clause sentence; a verb that expresses the aforementioned feelings is needed in the independent clause, triggering the subjunctive conjugation of the verb in the dependent clause.
The present subjunctive is mostly formed by adding the appropriate endings to the infinitive stems of regular verbs. Irregular verbs, however, do not retain their stems from the infinitive:
The verbs andare, dovere, venire, uscire, and scegliere are all irregular in the subjunctive form. They remain regular in their noi and voi conjugations—with the exception of dovere—in that you simply add the regular endings to the infinitive stems.
As with regular verbs, first, second and third person singular share a conjugation. A quick trick to then get the “loro” version of the verb is adding a “-no” to the end of these singular conjugations.
The subjunctive is used when the main clause and the subordinate clause have two different subjects. An infinitive is used if the subject does not change.
In our last lesson, we went over how the subjunctive mood is used to express uncertainty, doubt, and possibility. Furthermore, the subjunctive tense usually requires a two-clause sentence; a verb that expresses the aforementioned feelings is needed in the independent clause, triggering the subjunctive conjugation of the verb in the dependent clause.
The present subjunctive is mostly formed by adding the appropriate endings to the infinitive stems of regular verbs. Irregular verbs, however, do not retain their stems from the infinitive:
| Lei vuole che io vada a casa sua. (andare) She wants me to go to her house. Penso che tu debba mangiare anche la frutta! (dovere) I think you should also eat the fruit! Speriamo che ci scelgano per essere parte della loro squadra. (scegliere) Let’s hope they choose us to become a part of their team. |
The verbs andare, dovere, venire, uscire, and scegliere are all irregular in the subjunctive form. They remain regular in their noi and voi conjugations—with the exception of dovere—in that you simply add the regular endings to the infinitive stems.
| Maria spera che noi andiamo alla festa con lei. Maria hopes that we go to the party with her. Suggerisco che usciate stasera per conoscere la città. I suggest you (pl.) go out tonight to get to know the city. |
Andare | Dovere | Venire | Uscire | Scegliere | |
...che io | vada | debba | venga | esca | scelga |
...che tu | vada | debba | venga | esca | scelga |
...che lui/lei/Lei | vada | debba | venga | esca | scelga |
...che noi | andiamo | dobbiamo | veniamo | usciamo | scegliamo |
...che voi | andiate | dobbiate | veniate | usciate | scegliate |
...che loro/ Loro | vadano | debbano | vengano | escano | scelgano |
As with regular verbs, first, second and third person singular share a conjugation. A quick trick to then get the “loro” version of the verb is adding a “-no” to the end of these singular conjugations.
| Lei crede che io debba collaborare. She believes I should help. Lei crede che loro debbano collaborare. She believes they should help. |
The subjunctive is used when the main clause and the subordinate clause have two different subjects. An infinitive is used if the subject does not change.
| Non voglio uscire oggi. I don’t want to go out today. Non voglio che tu esca oggi. I don’t want you to go out today. |