Italian Grammar Bank
ITALIAN PLUPERFECT SUBJUNCTIVE
The Italian pluperfect subjunctive (congiuntivo trapassato) is used to express actions that occurred before another past event in uncertain, hypothetical, or dependent clauses.
It is commonly found in conditional sentences and indirect speech, adding nuance to past statements.
INTRODUCTION
Just like other subjunctive tenses, the pluperfect subjunctive follows certain expressions that indicate doubt, desire, or uncertainty in the past:
| Se solo | If only |
| Avrei voluto che | I would have liked that |
| Speravo che | I hoped that |
| Temevo che | I feared that |
| Credevo che | I believed that |
| Non pensavo che | I didn’t think that |
These expressions are typically followed by the pluperfect subjunctive to talk about things that didn’t actually happen but you wish or doubt them.
SENTENCE STRUCTURE
To form the pluperfect subjunctive, we use the imperfect subjunctive of the auxiliary verbs avere or essere (depending on the verb) + the past participle of the main verb.
PATTERN
Main clause (past/conditional) + che + subject + auxiliary verb (imperfetto congiuntivo) + past participle
It’s pretty straightforward once you know the imperfect subjunctive!
Conjugation of Essere and Avere
Let’s look at the conjugation of essere and avere in the pluperfect subjunctive, as they are the foundation for forming this tense.
| verb | io | tu | lui/lei | noi | voi | loro |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essere | Fossi stato | Fossi stato | Fosse stato | Fossimo stati | Foste stati | Fossero stati |
| Avere | Avessi avuto | Avessi avuto | Avesse avuto | Avessimo avuto | Aveste avuto | Avessero avuto |
Conjugation of Pensare, Credere, and Dormire
Now let’s take a look at how the verbs pensare (to think), credere (to believe), and dormire (to sleep) are conjugated in the pluperfect subjunctive.
| verb | io | tu | lui/lei | noi | voi | loro |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pensare | avessi pensato | avessi pensato | avesse pensato | avessimo pensato | aveste pensato | avessero pensato |
| Credere | avessi creduto | avessi creduto | avesse creduto | avessimo creduto | aveste creduto | avessero creduto |
| Dormire | avessi dormito | avessi dormito | avesse dormito | avessimo dormito | aveste dormito | avessero dormito |
NOTE || With essere, the past participle agrees in gender and number with the subject.
EXAMPLES
Here are three examples per case that demonstrate how the pluperfect subjunctive works in different situations.
Example 1: Hypothetical Situations in the Past
| Se avessi studiato di più, avrei passato l’esame. | If I had studied more, I would have passed the exam. |
| Se tu fossi venuto alla festa, ti saresti divertito. | If you had come to the party, you would have had fun. |
| Se loro avessero saputo la verità, avrebbero agito diversamente. | If they had known the truth, they would have acted differently. |
In these examples, the pluperfect subjunctive expresses things that could have happened but didn’t.
Example 2: Wishes or Regrets in the Past
| Avrei voluto che tu avessi finito il progetto. | I would have liked it if you had finished the project. |
| Speravo che loro avessero accettato l’offerta. | I hoped that they had accepted the offer. |
| Temevo che tu avessi perso il treno. | I feared that you had missed the train. |
These sentences express wishes or regrets about things that didn’t happen in the past.
Example 3: Doubts or Uncertainty about the Past
| Non pensavo che loro avessero già mangiato. | I didn’t think they had already eaten. |
| Dubitavo che tu avessi finito il lavoro. | I doubted that you had finished the work. |
| Non credevo che fosse successo nulla. | I didn’t believe that anything had happened. |
Here, the pluperfect subjunctive expresses doubt or uncertainty about something in the past.
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FAQs
When to use the Italian pluperfect subjunctive?
The pluperfect subjunctive is used to talk about actions that happened before another past action, usually in contexts of doubt, uncertainty, opinion, desire, or hypothetical situations.
It is commonly found in dependent clauses introduced by “che” or in third-type conditional sentences (periodo ipotetico del terzo tipo).
How do you form the pluperfect subjunctive?
It is formed with the imperfect subjunctive of essere or avere + the past participle of the main verb.
Avere: avessi, avessi, avesse, avessimo, aveste, avessero
Essere: fossi, fossi, fosse, fossimo, foste, fossero
Examples: Pensavo che lui fosse già partito. (I thought that he had already left.)
Speravo che tu avessi studiato di più. (I hoped that you had studied more.)
Can the pluperfect subjunctive be used in conditional sentences?
Yes!
It is used in third-type conditional sentences (unreal past conditions), where it appears in the se clause (protasi) and is followed by the past conditional (condizionale passato) in the main clause (apodosi).
Se avessi studiato di più, avresti superato l’esame.
(If you had studied more, you would have passed the exam.)
Pluperfect subjunctive or past subjunctive?
The past subjunctive (congiuntivo passato) is used for actions that are still relevant to the present or near past, while the pluperfect subjunctive (congiuntivo trapassato) is used for actions that happened further back in the past, before another past action.
Penso che tu sia arrivato in tempo. (I think that you arrived on time.) → Present + past subjunctive
Pensavo che tu fossi arrivato in tempo. (I thought that you had arrived on time.) → Past + pluperfect subjunctive
Is the pluperfect subjunctive commonly used in spoken Italian?
Not really!
In informal spoken Italian, people often replace it with the trapassato prossimo (past perfect in the indicative mood). However, it is still used in formal speech, literature, and writing.
Spoken: Pensavo che eri andato via. (instead of Pensavo che fossi andato via.)
Formal: Pensavo che fossi andato via. (Correct use of the pluperfect subjunctive)
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