Congiuntivo after Verbs of Desire (volere, sperare, desiderare) | Italian Grammar

The second great family of congiuntivo triggers is verbi di volontà — verbs of desire, will, hope, and preference. When you want, hope, or wish that someone else do something, you are projecting an action into the realm of the not-yet-real. Italian marks this with the congiuntivo, which is the mood of unrealized possibility.

This trigger family is more reliable than the opinion verbs. Where colloquial speakers sometimes use the indicativo after penso che, almost no native speaker says voglio che tu vieni — even in the loosest casual Italian, voglio che tu venga is the form. The desire trigger holds.

The core desire verbs

Verb	Meaning	Notes
volere	to want	strongest, most direct
desiderare	to wish, to desire	more formal/refined
sperare	to hope	future-oriented
preferire	to prefer	comparative desire
augurarsi	to hope, to wish (for oneself)	literary, slightly stronger than sperare
aspettarsi	to expect	desire mixed with anticipation
esigere	to demand, to require	strong, often institutional
pretendere	to claim, to demand	often with a critical tone

Voglio che tu venga con me al matrimonio.

I want you to come with me to the wedding.

Spero che arrivino in tempo, l'aereo decolla alle sette.

I hope they arrive on time, the plane takes off at seven.

Preferisco che tu rimanga qui finché non torno.

I prefer you stay here until I come back.

Mia madre desidera che ci vediamo tutti a Natale.

My mother wants us all to see each other at Christmas.

Mi aspetto che tu mi dica la verità.

I expect you to tell me the truth.

Same-subject vs. different-subject

Like the opinion verbs, the desire verbs follow the che + congiuntivo / di + infinitive alternation — but with one important difference for volere.

Sperare, desiderare, preferire, aspettarsi: the standard pattern

These follow the rule cleanly. Same subject → di + infinitive. Different subjects → che + congiuntivo.

Spero di arrivare in tempo.

I hope to arrive on time. (same subject)

Spero che lui arrivi in tempo.

I hope he arrives on time. (different subject)

Preferisco aspettare qui.

I prefer to wait here.

Preferisco che tu aspetti qui.

I prefer that you wait here.

Mi aspetto di vincere.

I expect to win.

Mi aspetto che vincano loro.

I expect them to win.

Volere is the exception: bare infinitive, no di

When the subject is the same, volere takes the bare infinitive — no preposition. There is no voglio di venire; only voglio venire.

Voglio venire con te.

I want to come with you. (NOT 'voglio di venire')

Vogliono mangiare fuori stasera.

They want to eat out tonight.

Voglio che tu venga con me.

I want you to come with me. (different subject — congiuntivo)

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Memorize the asymmetry: spero di venire but voglio venire (no di). This is one of the few places in Italian where a verb directly governs an infinitive without any linking preposition. It's not optional — adding di after volere sounds wrong.

Voglio che tu — the natural Italian command

Here is one of the most useful insights about Italian conversational style: the most common, natural way to give a direct order to someone is voglio che tu + congiuntivo.

English splits commands into a few constructions: imperatives ("Come here!"), polite imperatives ("Please come here"), and need-statements ("I need you to come here"). Italian has the imperative too, but in everyday family/work life Italians constantly say:

Voglio che tu venga subito.

I want you to come right now.

Voglio che mi rispondiate entro domani.

I want you to answer me by tomorrow.

Mamma vuole che tu metta a posto la stanza.

Mom wants you to clean up the room.

This construction is direct without being rude. It is what a parent says to a child, what a manager says to a team member, what a doctor says to a patient. As a learner, internalizing voglio che tu + congiuntivo gives you a workhorse pattern for everyday command-giving.

Sperare's quirk: speriamo!

The verb sperare deserves a note of its own because of one fixed expression that Italians use constantly:

Speriamo che non piova domani!

Let's hope it doesn't rain tomorrow!

— Vincerà la partita? — Speriamo!

— Will he win the match? — Let's hope so!

The bare speriamo! — "let's hope!" — is one of the most characteristic interjections in spoken Italian. It can stand alone, it can be elliptical (speriamo bene!), and the full construction speriamo che + congiuntivo is universal in spoken contexts.

Che + congiuntivo as a third-person imperative

A specialized but useful construction: when you want someone to give an order about a third party (or to express a strong wish about them), Italian uses che + congiuntivo with no introducing verb at all. This is sometimes called the iussivo use of the subjunctive.

Che venga subito!

Have him come right now! / Let him come right now!

Che facciano quello che vogliono.

Let them do what they want.

Che sia maledetto!

May he be cursed! (literary/dramatic)

This is the closest thing Italian has to English "let him + verb" or "may he + verb." It feels formal or slightly old-fashioned in everyday speech, but you will see it in films, novels, and dramatic contexts. The presence of an unintroduced che + subjunctive at the start of a sentence is the giveaway.

Esigere and pretendere: stronger demands

These two verbs deserve a separate mention because their force differs from English equivalents.

Esigere ("to demand, to require") is institutional and strong:

L'azienda esige che i dipendenti rispettino l'orario.

The company requires employees to respect the schedule.

Pretendere is a famous false friend. It does not mean "to pretend" (that's fingere). It means "to demand, to claim, to expect (often unreasonably)":

Pretende che io lavori anche il sabato.

He demands that I work on Saturdays too.

Non pretendo che tu mi capisca, ma almeno ascoltami.

I don't expect you to understand me, but at least listen to me.

Both take the congiuntivo. Pretendere often carries a critical undertone — "he expects this, and it's unreasonable."

Tense matters: presente vs. passato

The desire verbs trigger different congiuntivo tenses depending on the relative time of the embedded action.

Time relation	Congiuntivo tense	Example
Embedded action is simultaneous or future	presente	Voglio che venga ora.
Embedded action is already completed	passato	Spero che sia arrivato.

Voglio che mi chiami appena arrivi.

I want you to call me as soon as you arrive. (future — congiuntivo presente)

Spero che ti sia divertito alla festa ieri.

I hope you had fun at the party yesterday. (past — congiuntivo passato)

When the matrix verb itself is in the past (volevo che, speravo che), the congiuntivo shifts to the imperfect or pluperfect — but that is the territory of the imperfect subjunctive.

Common mistakes

❌ Voglio che tu vieni.

Incorrect — volere che takes the congiuntivo, not the indicativo.

✅ Voglio che tu venga.

Correct — congiuntivo presente of venire.

❌ Voglio di venire alla festa.

Incorrect — volere takes the bare infinitive, no di.

✅ Voglio venire alla festa.

Correct — voglio venire (no preposition).

❌ Spero di lui arrivi presto.

Incorrect — di is for same-subject. Different subject takes che.

✅ Spero che lui arrivi presto.

Correct — che + congiuntivo with different subjects.

❌ Pretendo che vieni alle sette.

Incorrect — pretendere requires the congiuntivo.

✅ Pretendo che tu venga alle sette.

Correct — congiuntivo after pretendere che.

❌ Spero che hai finito i compiti.

Incorrect — sperare takes the congiuntivo passato for completed actions.

✅ Spero che tu abbia finito i compiti.

Correct — congiuntivo passato (abbia finito), not indicativo perfetto.

Key takeaways

Desire verbs are perhaps the most reliable congiuntivo trigger you will encounter. Three rules to internalize:

Different subjects → che + congiuntivo. Same subject → di + infinitive (or bare infinitive after volere). This is the universal pattern, with volere the only verb that drops di.
Voglio che tu + congiuntivo is the everyday command form. It is not formal or unusual — it is what Italians say in family, work, and casual contexts when issuing direct instructions.
Choose the congiuntivo tense by time relation. Simultaneous/future actions take the presente (venga); already-completed actions take the passato (sia venuto).

Next, see emotion verbs — the third great trigger family.

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