What is the past conditional?

 
  • Se mi fossi alzato/a più presto ieri, sarei arrivato/a ieri alle otto di sera. 
  • If I had got up earlier yesterday, I would have arrived at 8 p.m. yesterday .

 

How to form the past conditional?

avere (in present conditional) + past participle

Avrei comprato una macchina.

essere (in present conditional) + past participle

Saremmo partiti/e* per la Spagna.

 

 

 

 

* wth the auxiliary essere, the past participle has to agree in number and gender with the subject

 

how to form past participle?

 
  1. regularly:

    PARLARE

    VENDERE

    PARTIRE

    PARLATO

    VENDUTO

    PARTITO

 

 b. irregular past participle

examples: rompere – rotto, nascere – nato, essere – stato, etc.

 

conjugation of Italian verbs

interactive conjugation

When to use the past conditional?

  1. in conditional clauses (3rd type)
    • Se avessi avuto più tempo, ti avrei aiutato. 
    • If I had had more time, I would have helped you.
  2. to express the "future in the past"
    • Mi sono reso conto che non sarei arrivato prima delle undici. 
    • I realized I would not arrive before eleven.
  3. often in news or newspapers when an unverified piece of information is reported. 
    • Secondo le ultime notizie, molti passeggeri sarebbero stati feriti.  
    • According to the latest news, a lot of passengers are said to have been injured.

Compare with the future perfect:

 

Future perfect

Past conditional

Sarà stato ferito.

He was probably hurt. / He might have been hurt. (That´s what I think.)

 

Secondo le ultime notizie sarebbe stato ferito.

According to the latest news, he was hurt.  / He is said to have been hurt. (That´s what I have been told.) 

Avranno avuto molto da fare, così non sono venuti.

They probably had a lot of work, so they didn´t arrive.

Secondo le ultime notizie l´incidente sarebbe accaduto ieri notte.

According to the latest news, the accident happened last night.