Italian - The imperfect subjunctive of 'to be' and 'to have' (fossi, avessi)

Here is how to form the imperfect subjunctive of Italian's two most common verbs: essere (to be) and avere (to have).

The Forms of Essere and Avere

Good news: avere is regular in this tense. It uses its normal stem (av-) and the standard -ere imperfect subjunctive endings.

Essere is irregular and uses the special stem foss-, but it takes those exact same standard endings.

Pronoun	Essere	Avere
io	fossi	avessi
tu	fossi	avessi
lui / lei	fosse	avesse
noi	fossimo	avessimo
voi	foste	aveste
loro	fossero	avessero

Past Hopes and Beliefs

Use the imperfect subjunctive of essere and avere after past-tense expressions of hope, belief, or uncertainty. This is especially useful when describing the ideal qualities you wanted in a travel companion.

I have always hoped that my friend was sociable.

Ho sempre sperato che il mio amico fosse socievole.

I looked for an adventurous person who had the desire to share the adventure.

Ho cercato una persona avventurosa che avesse voglia di condividere l'avventura.

I thought that you were flexible enough to adapt yourself easily.

Ho pensato che tu fossi abbastanza flessibile da adattarti facilmente.

Hypothetical "If" Clauses

The imperfect subjunctive is also used right after se (if) to express hypothetical, imaginary, or unlikely conditions.

You will often see this paired with a conditional verb (like potresti, "you could" or "could you") in the main clause to describe what would happen if things were different.

If I were more sociable, could you share the experience with me?

Se io fossi più socievole, potresti condividere l'esperienza con me?

Could you travel with me, if we had any interest in common?

Potresti viaggiare con me, se noi avessimo qualunque interesse in comune?