I wrote the first part of this blog in reply to a question from Jeannet about the use of the conditional: http://www.transparent.com/italian/should-could-would/
Here is another reader’s question that follows the same theme. I think that once again the reply will be useful to share with everyone:
Hi Serena,
My name is Ureder and I’m a Spanish teacher who is learning Italian. I follow your blog quite regularly and it has helped me to understand the Italian grammar better.
I would appreciate if you could translate the following sentences into Italian. I think in some of these examples the Spanish translation is more similar to the English sentence than the Italian translation. That’s why I sometimes get confused with ‘il condizionale’.
1. a) […], I would have more money.
1. b) […], I would have had more money.
1. c) […], I would be richer.
1. d) […], I would have been richer.
2. a) […], I could have more money.
2. b) […], I could have had more money.
2. c) […], I could be richer.
2. d) […], I could have been richer.
3. a) […], I should (or I would have to) have more money.
3. b) […], I should (or I would have to) have had more money.
3. c) […], I should (or I would have to) be richer.
3. d) […], I should (or I would have to) have been richer.
4. a) […], I would like to have more money.
4. b) […], I would have liked to have (or to have had) more money.
4. c) […], I would like to be richer.
4. d) […], I would have liked to be (or to have been) richer.
Grazie mille!
Allora, andiamo avanti …
| 1 | |
| I would have more money. | avrei più soldi |
| I would have had more money | avrei avuto più soldi |
| I would be richer | sarei più ricca/o |
| I would have been richer | sarei stata/o più ricca/o |
| 2 | |
| I could have more money | potrei avere più soldi |
| I could have had more money | avrei potuto avere più soldi |
| I could be richer | potrei essere più ricca/o |
| I could have been richer | sarei potuta/o essere più ricca/o |
| 3 | |
| I should have more money | dovrei avere più soldi |
| I should have had more money | avrei dovuto avere più soldi |
| I should be richer | dovrei essere più ricca/o |
| I should have been richer | sarei dovuta/o essere più ricca/o |
| 4 | |
| I would like to have more money | mi piacerebbe avere più soldi |
| I would have liked to have more money | mi sarebbe piaciuto avere più soldi |
| I would like to be richer | mi piacerebbe essere più ricca/o |
| I would have liked to be richer | mi sarebbe piaciuto essere più ricca/o |
N.B. as I mentioned in part one, in colloquial Italian we often use avrei instead of sarei when speaking in the conditional, e.g.:
| I could have been richer | sarei potuta/o essere più ricca/o avrei potuto essere più ricca/o |
| I should have been richer | sarei dovuta/o essere più ricca/o avrei dovuto essere più ricca/o |
You will also notice that because we use essere with ricco i.e. ‘to be rich’, the past participle changes gender and number accordingly e.g.:
| I should have been richer (feminine) I should have been richer (masculine) we should have been richer (masculine plural) |
sarei dovuta essere più ricca sarei dovuto essere più ricco saremmo dovuti essere più ricchi |
I would be interested to hear from Ureder (who posted this question) whether the conditional is more, or less complicated in Spanish. It’s hard to imagine that it could be more difficult than the Italian!
