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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.

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### 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.

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### Putting It Together

Since *essere* and *avere* are so common, you will frequently use them side by side when describing personalities and feelings.

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

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
sociable	socievole
I have always hoped that my friend was sociable.	Ho sempre sperato che il mio amico fosse socievole.
adventurous	avventuroso
I thought that you all were sociable and adventurous.	Ho pensato che voi foste socievoli e avventurosi.
to share (partake, have in common)	condividere
the adventure (f)	l'avventura
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.
the interest (m)	l'interesse
to interest (mi interessa = I am interested in)	interessare
Could you travel with me, if we had any interest in common?	Potresti viaggiare con me, se noi avessimo qualunque interesse in comune?
flexible	flessibile
to adapt (oneself)	adattarsi
I thought that you were flexible enough to adapt yourself easily.	Ho pensato che tu fossi abbastanza flessibile da adattarti facilmente.
the enthusiasm (m)	l'entusiasmo
Did you all think that I had much enthusiasm?	Avete pensato che io avessi molto entusiasmo?
funny/witty	spiritoso
I preferred a person who was funny and had enthusiasm.	Ho preferito una persona che fosse spiritosa e avesse entusiasmo.
spontaneous	spontaneo
I believed that we were more spontaneous and funny.	Ho creduto che noi fossimo più spontanei e spiritosi.
Could you be more spontaneous, if you had the desire for an adventure?	Potresti essere più spontaneo, se tu avessi voglia di un'avventura?
I have always hoped that they were flexible and spontaneous.	Ho sempre sperato che loro fossero flessibili e spontanei.
Whatever problem they had, I hoped that they were happy.	Qualsiasi problema avessero, ho sperato che loro fossero felici.
I hoped that you all had the patience to share the room and adapt yourselves.	Ho sperato che voi aveste la pazienza di condividere la stanza e adattarvi.
If I were more sociable, could you share the experience with me?	Se io fossi più socievole, potresti condividere l'esperienza con me?
I was looking for a friend who had a great interest in nature.	Cercavo un amico che avesse un grande interesse per la natura.
the friendship (f)	l'amicizia
Our friendship was born while traveling.	La nostra amicizia è nata in viaggio.
Friendship is as important as love.	L'amicizia è importante quanto l'amore.
I am very interested in music.	Mi interessa molto la musica.
Doesn't this topic interest you?	Questo argomento non ti interessa?
to make friends	fare amicizia
I made friends with the neighbors.	Ho fatto amicizia con i vicini.
He is sociable: he makes friends with everyone.	È socievole: fa amicizia con tutti.
I can't wait to… (lit. I don't see the hour of)	non vedo l'ora di
I can't wait to leave for the adventure.	Non vedo l'ora di partire per l'avventura.
I can't wait to see you on Saturday.	Non vedo l'ora di vederti sabato.

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