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When planning an elaborate practical joke (**lo scherzo**), you often need to explain your intentions or describe the hilarious outcome. To say "so that" in Italian, use **in modo che** or **di modo che**. The difference depends on whether you are expressing a *purpose* (what you wanted to happen) or a *result* (what actually happened).

### Purpose: *in modo che* + Subjunctive

To express a purpose—doing something *in order to* achieve a specific goal—use **in modo che** followed by the **subjunctive**. Because you are often explaining how you engineered a prank in the past, use the past subjunctive (*congiuntivo imperfetto*) for the intended outcome.

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### Result: *di modo che* + Indicative

To state a factual consequence—what *actually* happened—use **di modo che** followed by the **indicative**. Since the result really occurred, you use standard indicative tenses to describe the outcome of your actions.

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Purpose and result (in modo che, di modo che)

adjective

adjective/adverb

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

preposition

pronoun

proper noun

sentence

verb

Definite articles and gender (il, la, l')

Indefinite articles (un, una)

Singular demonstratives (questo, questa)

Basic verbal negation (non)

Yes/No questions

Coordinating conjunctions (e, ma, o)

Regular plurals and definite articles (-i, -e, i, le)

Plural verb to be (noi siamo, voi siete)

Plural demonstratives (questi, queste)

Nouns ending in -e

Special singular articles (lo, l')

The plural article (gli)

Special indefinite articles (uno, un')

Demonstrative adjectives (quello, quella)

Adjective endings (-o, -a, -i, -e)

Expressing quantity (molto, poco, tanto)

The verb to have (ho, hai, ha...)

There is / there are (c'è, ci sono)

The preposition of (di)

Singular possessives (il mio, la mia)

Numbers 1 to 10 (uno, due, tre...)

Numbers 11 to 20 (undici, dodici...)

Numbers 21 to 100 (trenta, quaranta...)

Idiomatic avere (avere fame, avere anni)

Plural possessive adjectives (i miei, le mie)

Possessives with family members (mio padre)

Formal address (dare del Lei)

Present tense of -are verbs (-o, -i, -a)

Question words (chi, cosa, dove)

Present tense of -ere verbs (-o, -i, -e)

Question words (quando, come, perché)

Question word agreement (quanto, quanta, quanti, quante)

Regular -ire verbs

Verbs with -isc- (capisco, capisci, capisce)

Pronouns after prepositions (me, te, lui)

The verb fare (faccio, fai, fa)

The verb andare (vado, vai, va)

The verb stare (sto, stai, sta)

The verb venire (vengo, vieni, viene)

The verb uscire (esco, esci, esce)

Location and destination (a, in)

Origin and movement (da)

Articulated prepositions with a (al, alla)

Articulated prepositions with in (nel, nella)

Articulated prepositions with di and da (del, dal)

Simple prepositions (con, per, su, tra)

Articulated prepositions with su (sul, sulla)

Months of the year

Telling time (sono le...)

Dates (il + number)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (primo, secondo, terzo...)

The verb to want (volere)

The verb can (potere)

The verb must (dovere)

The verb to know (sapere)

Reflexive verbs (mi lavo, ti lavi)

Indirect object pronouns (gli, le, ci...)

Expressing preferences (mi piace)

Plural preferences (mi piacciono)

Comparatives (più... di, meno... di)

The passato prossimo with avere (ho parlato)

Irregular past participles (fatto, letto, preso)

The passato prossimo with essere (sono andato)

Reflexive verbs in the past (mi sono svegliato)

Time adverbs with the past tense (già, mai, ancora)

Third-person direct object pronouns (lo, la, li, le)

First and second-person direct object pronouns (mi, ti, ci, vi)

The four seasons

Prepositions of place (vicino a, davanti a)

Conversational words (beh, allora, davvero)

Indefinite adjectives for some (qualche, alcuni)

Indefinite adjectives for every and all (ogni, tutti)

Indefinite pronouns (qualcosa, qualcuno)

Noun suffixes (-ino, -one)

Adverbs of manner (-mente)

Comparisons of equality (così... come)

The relative superlative (il più)

The absolute superlative (-issimo)

Irregular comparatives (migliore, peggiore)

Present progressive (stare + -ando, -endo)

Imminent actions (stare per)

The locative pronoun (ci)

The partitive pronoun (ne)

Pronoun placement with modal verbs

Impersonal subjects (si)

Prepositions of time (da, per, tra, fra)

Past participle agreement with pronouns

Question	Answer
to concoct / to scheme	architettare
the prank / the joke	lo scherzo
so that (purpose or result)	in modo che
to take the bait	abboccare
I had concocted that prank so that my brother would take the bait.	Avevo architettato quello scherzo in modo che mio fratello abboccasse.
hilarious	spassoso
so that (purpose or result)	di modo che
the mechanism	il meccanismo
We had concocted a funny prank, so that nobody noticed the mechanism.	Avevamo architettato uno scherzo spassoso, di modo che nessuno ha notato il meccanismo.
fake (artificial, pretend)	finto
The fake spider was connected to the mechanism, so that it fell on the table.	Il ragno finto era collegato al meccanismo, di modo che è caduto sul tavolo.
the fright / the scare	lo spavento
I hid the fake snake in the drawer so that Marco would get a fright.	Ho nascosto il serpente finto nel cassetto in modo che Marco prendesse uno spavento.
the bucket	il secchio
I had tied the string to the bucket so that the water would fall on that student.	Avevo legato il filo al secchio in modo che l'acqua cadesse su quello studente.
The bucket fell, so that the teacher got scared.	Il secchio è caduto, di modo che l'insegnante si è spaventato.
We hid the mechanism, so that my cousin took the bait.	Abbiamo nascosto il meccanismo, di modo che mio cugino ha abboccato.
I had put the fake mouse under that pillow so that she would find it.	Avevo messo il topo finto sotto quel cuscino in modo che lei lo trovasse.
They had organized the prank in advance so that nothing would fail.	Avevano organizzato lo scherzo in anticipo in modo che niente fallisse.
Everyone found the prank very funny, so that they laughed for hours.	Tutti hanno trovato lo scherzo molto spassoso, di modo che hanno riso per ore.
I engineered the joke so that the fright was hilarious.	Ho architettato lo scherzo di modo che lo spavento è stato spassoso.
consequently, as a result	di conseguenza
It rained a lot; consequently the road is closed.	Ha piovuto molto; di conseguenza la strada è chiusa.
He did not study and consequently the result is bad.	Non ha studiato e di conseguenza il risultato è brutto.

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