Introduction to the Imperfect Subjunctive

As we have seen in our previous lessons, there are certain “subjunctive trigger” verbs in the independent clause of a sentence that require the verb in the dependent clause to be in the subjunctive tense.

Just like the indicative tense, the subjunctive tense also has an imperfect form. This imperfect subjunctive form is required when the trigger verb in the independent clause is in any past tense or in the conditional tense:

Pensavo che tu fossi italiano; non sapevo che tu fossi americano! I thought you were Italian; I didn’t know you were American! Preferiresti che andassimo alla festa insieme? Would you prefer if we went to the party together?

In the examples above we see “pensare” and “(non) sapere” in the imperfect tense and “preferire” in the conditional; this dictates that the verb in the dependent clause be in the imperfect subjunctive.

To conjugate regular verbs in the imperfect subjunctive, you drop the final three letters of the infinitive and add the respective endings to the stem. Notice that the only difference is that -are verb endings start with an “a”, -ere verbs with an “e”, and -ire verbs with an “i”:

	Ballare	Vedere	Fornire
...che io	ballassi	vedessi	fornissi
...che tu	ballassi	vedessi	fornissi
...che lui/lei/Lei	ballasse	vedesse	fornisse
...che noi	ballassimo	vedessimo	fornissimo
...che voi	ballaste	vedeste	forniste
...che loro/Loro	ballassero	vedessero	fornissero