You don’t know which tense to use, do you? You would like to know, once and for all, if you need to use the past, the present or the future, wouldn’t you? Find out how to match the various Italian verbal tenses and moods thanks to this awesome lesson about the so-called consecutio temporum!
CONSECUTIO TEMPORUM – How to Match Tenses
The label “consecutio temporum” means the match of verbal tenses between the main clause and the subordinate clause.
In order to find the right verbal tense in the subordinate clause, you need to know 3 elements:
- what supports the verb of the main clause (indicative or subjunctive → if you have any doubt about subjunctive, don’t miss our lessons about how to use it and how NOT to use it!)
- tense and mood of the verb in the main clause
- time relationship you want to give (anteriority, contemporaneity, posteriority)
Let’s see all the possible cases…
| Main clause | Subordinate clause | RELATIONSHIP |
| So che… | … sei stato bravo (passato prossimo)* | ANTERIORITY |
| So che… | … sei bravo (present) | CONTEMPORANEITY |
| So che… | … sarai bravo (simple future) | POSTERIORITY |
1) In this case, the verb of the main clause (“sapere” → to know) supports the indicative and it’s in the present tense, therefore the time relationship with the verb of the subordinate clause will be in relation to the present:
- if you want to express an action occurred before the present, you must use the passato prossimo (anteriority)
- if you want to express an action occurred always in the present, you must use the present (contemporaneity)
- if you want to express an action that still has to occur, you must use the simple future (posteriority)
*If you want to emphasize the length of an action or event in the past, you can use the imperfect indicative (… eri bravo)
| Main clause | Subordinate clause | RELATIONSHIP |
| Credo che… | … tu sia stato bravo (past subjunctive)* | ANTERIORITY |
| Credo che… | … tu sia bravo (present subjunctive) | CONTEMPORANEITY |
| Credo che… | … sarai bravo (simple future indicative!) | POSTERIORITY |
2) In this case, the verb of the main clause (“credere” → to believe) supports the subjunctive and it’s in the present tense, therefore the time relationship with the verb of the subordinate clause will be in relation to the present:
- if you want to express an action occurred before the present, you must use the past subjunctive (anteriority)
- if you want to express an action occurred always in the present, you must use the present subjunctive (contemporaneity)
- if you want to express an action that still has to occur, you must use the simple future indicative (posteriority), as the subjunctive has no future tense!
*If you want to emphasize the length of an action or event in the past, you can use the imperfect subjunctive (… tu fossi bravo)
| Main clause | Subordinate clause | RELATIONSHIP |
| Sapevo che… | … eri andato a Roma (trapassato prossimo) | ANTERIORITY |
| Sapevo che… | … andavi a Roma (imperfect) | CONTEMPORANEITY |
| Sapevo che… | … saresti andato a Roma (past conditional!) | POSTERIORITY |
3) In this case, the verb of the main clause (“sapere” → to know) supports the indicative and it’s in the imperfect tense (= past tense), therefore the time relationship with the verb of the subordinate clause will be in relation to the past:
- if you want to express an action occurred even before in the past with respect to the past of the main clause, you must use the trapassato prossimo (anteriority)
- if you want to express an action occurred in the same past, you must use the imperfect (contemporaneity)
- if you want to express a future action with respect to the past I am speaking in, you must use the past conditional (posteriority)
| Main clause | Subordinate clause | RELATIONSHIP |
| Credevo che… | … tu fossi andato a Roma (trapassato subjunctive) | ANTERIORITY |
| Credevo che… | … tu andassi a Roma (imperfect subjunctive) | CONTEMPORANEITY |
| Credevo che… | … saresti andato a Roma (past conditional!) | POSTERIORITY |
4) In this case, the verb of the main clause (“credere” → to believe) supports the subjunctive and it’s in the imperfect tense (= past tense), therefore the time relationship with the verb of the subordinate clause will be in relation to the past:
- if you want to express an action occurred even before in the past with respect to the past of the main clause, you must use the trapassato subjunctive (anteriority)
- if you want to express an action occurred in the same past, you must use the imperfect subjunctive (contemporaneity)
- if you want to express a future action with respect to the past I am speaking in, you must use the past conditional (posteriority), exactly like in the case 3
What happens, instead, when the mood of the main clause is conditional?
| Main clause | Subordinate clause | RELATIONSHIP |
| Vorrei che … | … tu fossi stato più buono (trapassato subjunctive) | ANTERIORITY |
| Main clause | Subordinate clause | RELATIONSHIP |
| Vorrei che … | … tu fossi più buono (imperfect subjunctive) | CONTEMPORANEITY
POSTERIORITY |
5) In this case, the verb of the main clause (“volere” → to want) supports the subjunctive and it’s in the present conditional, therefore the time relationship with the verb of the subordinate clause will be in relation to the present:
- if you want to express an action occurred before the present, you must use the trapassato subjunctive (anteriority)
- if you want to express an action occurred always in the present, you must use the imperfect (and not the present!!) subjunctive(contemporaneity)
- if you want to express an action that still has to occur, you must use the imperfect subjunctive (posteriority)
For this reason, in order to distinguish the contemporaneity from the posteriority, you have to consider the context.
| Main clause | Subordinate clause | RELATIOSHIP |
| Avrei voluto che … | … tu fossi stato più buono (trapassato subjunctive) | ANTERIORITY
CONTEMPORANEITY POSTERIORITY |
6) In this case, the verb of the main clause (“volere” → to want) supports the subjunctive and it’s in the past conditional, therefore the time relationship with the verb of the subordinate clause will be in relation to the past:
- if you want to express an action occurred even before in the past with respect to the past of the main clause, you must use the trapassato subjunctive (anteriority)
- if you want to express an action occurred in the same past, you must use the trapassato subjunctive (contemporaneity)
- if you want to express a future action with respect to the past I am speaking in, you must use the trapassato subjunctive (posteriority)
In other words… For contemporaneity, as well as for anteriority and posteriority, when in the main clause there’s a verb in the past conditional, you have to use the same tense (trapassato subjunctive). Therefore, in order to distinguish the time relationship you have to consider the context!
BE CAREFUL!
In order to express ANTERIORITY and CONTEMPORANEITY (in relation to both present and past), all of this doesn’t apply if the subject of the main clause and the subject of the subordinate clause are the same!
In this case, you must use the infinitive…
Examples:
Io so che io sono bravo → So di essere bravo. (I know I am good)
Io credo che io sia bravo → Credo di essere bravo. (I think I am good)
Io sapevo che io ero bravo → Sapevo di essere bravo. (I knew I was good)
Io credevo che io fossi bravo → Credevo di essere bravo. (I thought I was good)
Io so che io sono stato bravo → So di essere stato bravo. (I know I have been good)
Io credo che io sia stato bravo → Credo di essere stato bravo. (I think I have been good)
Io sapevo che io ero stato bravo → Sapevo di essere stato bravo. (I knew I had been good)
Io credevo che io fossi stato bravo → Credevo di essere stato bravo. (I thought I had been good)
BUT!!
In order to express POSTERIORITY (in relation to both present and past), the infinitive doesn’t work, even though the subject is the same → therefore you must follow the tense rules considered before.
Examples:
Io so che io sarò bravo (I know I will be good)
Io credo che io sarò bravo (I think I will be good)
Io sapevo che io sarei stato bravo (I knew I would be good)
Io credevo che io sarei stato bravo (I thought I would be good)
Do you already know indirect speech in Italian?
Let’s see if you’ve mastered the contents of this class. Have a go at completing the exercises!
