Breakdown of Non volevo che ognuno scoprisse il clone e il paradosso.
e
and
non
not
volere
to want
scoprire
to discover
che
that (conjunction introducing a clause)
ognuno
everyone / each one
il paradosso
the paradox
il clone
the clone
Questions & Answers about Non volevo che ognuno scoprisse il clone e il paradosso.
In English, we say 'want everyone to discover'. Why doesn't Italian use the infinitive here?
In Italian, when the person doing the 'wanting' is different from the person doing the action, you cannot use an infinitive. Since 'I' did not want, but 'everyone' is doing the discovering, you must use che (that) followed by a conjugated verb in the subjunctive mood. Literally, it translates to 'I did not want that everyone discovered'.
Why is scoprisse in the imperfect subjunctive rather than the present subjunctive?
The tense of the subjunctive depends on the main verb. Because the main verb volevo is in a past tense (the imperfect), it forces the dependent verb scoprisse into the past as well. If the sentence were in the present ('I do not want everyone to discover'), you would use the present subjunctive: Non voglio che ognuno scopra.
How do I form the imperfect subjunctive for an -ire verb like scoprire?
For regular verbs, you drop the -re from the infinitive and add the imperfect subjunctive endings. For scoprire, you drop the -re to get the stem scopri-, then add the third-person singular ending -sse to match ognuno. The full conjugation is: scoprissi, scoprissi, scoprisse, scoprissimo, scopriste, scoprissero.
Could I use tutti instead of ognuno here?
Yes, but you would have to change the verb ending. Ognuno means 'each one' or 'everyone' and is strictly singular, which is why it takes the third-person singular verb scoprisse. If you used tutti (everybody or all), it acts as a plural, so the verb would become the third-person plural scoprissero: Non volevo che tutti scoprissero il clone e il paradosso.
Learn Non volevo che ognuno scoprisse il clone e il paradosso and more in Italian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free