The conditional tense is used in order to express events that would happen under certain conditions. For example: If I was rich, I would buy a mansion.

Any Italian verb that is conjugated in the conditional tense is translated back into English with the word "would" and in some more rare cases "could"

In order to conjugate a verb in the conditional tense, you always start with your infinitive. Remember that infinitives end in "are" "ere" and "ire". For a quick lesson on infinitives go here: What is an infinitive?

The next thing I have to do is to drop the final "e" from the infinitive.

The third thing I do is to add the appropriate ending depending on what the subject of the sentence is.

Here are the subjects in Italian with their English meanings and their matching endings for the conditional tense. The endings are in parethesis.

Io = I (ei)
Tu = singular you (esti)
Lui = he (ebbe)
Lei = she (ebbe)
Noi = we (emmo)
Voi = plural you (este)
Loro = they (ebbero)

OK, now let's look at the infinitive "parlare" = to speak.

Let's say I want to write We would speak in Italian.

1. Obtain your infinitive to speak which is "parlare"

2. Cut off the final "e" of parlare. parlare -----> parlar

3. Now, because our verb ends in "are" we must change the last two letters "ar" to "er" parlar ----> parler Note that you don't have to make this change with "ere" and "ire" verbs.

4. Now find the subject "we" (Noi in Italian) on the chart. The ending that matches up with "noi" is "emmo"

5. Now put it together parler + emmo = parleremmo = we would speak
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Remember though that there are some verbs in Italian in the conditional tense that have irregular stems. In other words, you can't simply start from the infinitive and then cut off the final "e" because these verbs have their own special stem. Note that the endings for these irregular verbs do not change! You still use the same endings as found in the chart above.

IRREGULAR CONDITIONAL TENSE STEMS

andare (to go) andr-

avere (to have) avr-

cadere (to fall) cadr-

dovere (to have to) dovr-

potere (to be able to) potr-

sapere (to know) sapr-

vedere (to see) vedr-

vivere (to live) vivr-

Let's try one: I would go

1. The verb to go is "andare" find its stem....them stem is andr

2. now find the subject "I" or "Io" in Italian on the chart. Its conditional ending is "ei"

3. Now put the two bold words together andr + ei = Andrei = I would go

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Dimmi con chi vai e ti dirò chi sei.

Complimenti Giacomo. Now we need some example sentences using the conditional tense.

Well,

I usually leave that part to you Villa. You always put a different spin on what I show in my grammar explanations and like I said before it's good for learners to see two different points of view.

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Dimmi con chi vai e ti dirò chi sei.

Va bene amico.

Besides learning the conditional tense below check out all the vocabulario.

l. Lui comprerebbe una macchina nuova, ma no ha i soldi.
He would buy a new car but he does not have the money.

2. Io canterei, ma ho mal di gola.
I would sing but I have a sore throat.

3. Tu viaggeresti, ma non ti piace.
You would travel but you don't like to.

4. (Io) Comprerei una casa, ma non ho i soldi.
I would buy a house but I don't have to money.

5. Mi faresti un grosso favore?
Would you do me a big favor?

6. Secondo lui, quell'uomo potrebbe essere un ladro.
According to him that man could be a thief.

7. Sarebbe una buona ida, ma non so se ce la faremo.
It would be a good idea, but I don't know if we can make it.

8. Vorremmo andare al cinema.
We would like to go to the movies.

9. Non piangerebbero sempre.
They would not always cry.

10. Secondo me, sarebbe meglio dormire.
As far as I'm concerned, it would be better to sleep.

If you would like Villa, I will add some of my own examples next time.

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Dimmi con chi vai e ti dirò chi sei.

THANK you both!! I can only hope in time ,I can grasp the language as well as you two.

Grazie vino_rosso. It's ironic that both Giacomo and I are actually Spanish teachers. I have my master's degree in Spanish and taught high school Spanish for years. I lived in Italy for two years and was quite fluent in Italian but upon returning to California learned Spanish since there were vitually no Italian speakers here. I've yet to meet an Italian speaker here in California who has not learned Spanish. After many years of not speaking Italian have been trying to relearn and learn the language the last 4 years. In 2007 went to study Italian at the Universita di Perugia and this past summer spent a month in Vicenza, Veneto, Italia.

You're welcome Vino Rosso!

That's right...we are indeed Spanish Teachers. I learned both French and Spanish before I learned Italian. In fact, I believe that I have a long way to go in my study of Italian before I will consider myself to be at the level I want to be at. I definetly write and read it a lot better than I can speak it.

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Dimmi con chi vai e ti dirò chi sei.