Concordanza dei tempi: the Italian sequence of tenses

«La concordanza dei tempi», the sequence of tenses, is the set of rules that decides which tense a subordinate clause takes. Two things decide it: the time of the main clause, and the time relation between the two events. Grammars call these relations anteriority (the subordinate event comes before the main one), simultaneity (it happens at the same time) and posteriority (it comes after). The main clause supplies the reference point, and every subordinate tense is chosen from there.

With a present main verb, Italian uses the tense you would use on its own: «So che Luca è partito, parte, partirà». Once the main verb is past, the whole system shifts back one step: «Sapevo che Luca era partito, partiva, sarebbe partito». English does much the same (“I knew he had left, was leaving, would leave”), but Italian is stricter in writing, uses the past conditional for a later event, and runs a parallel set of subjunctive tenses after verbs of opinion, doubt and emotion.

At C1 this matters because long texts keep moving between reference points: what a witness knew then, what a source says now, what would happen later. «Il sindaco non sapeva ancora che il ponte era già stato chiuso e che la piena sarebbe arrivata all’alba.» “The mayor did not yet know that the bridge had already been closed and that the flood would arrive at dawn.”

The indicative: shifting back from a past reference point

After verbs that assert or report a fact, such as «sapere», «dire», «scoprire», «constatare», «accorgersi» and «essere certo», the subordinate clause is in the indicative. With a present or future main verb, choose the tense by the real time relation: «Il rapporto conferma che i lavori sono finiti», «che procedono», «che finiranno a giugno».

With a past main verb (passato prossimo, imperfetto, passato remoto or trapassato), the tenses shift. An earlier event takes the trapassato prossimo, a simultaneous one the imperfetto, and a later one the past conditional: «sarebbe partito». This last use is the future in the past (futuro nel passato). Where English says “would leave”, standard Italian uses the compound conditional, so «Disse che sarebbe tornato», never «Disse che tornerebbe».

Two refinements. When the reference point lies in the future, an event completed before it takes the futuro anteriore: «Quando avranno pubblicato il bando, sapremo quanti posti ci sono». And in everyday speech the imperfetto often replaces the past conditional for a later event: «Mi ha detto che veniva domani» is normal conversation, while formal writing keeps «sarebbe venuto».

• L’ufficio stampa ha precisato che il ministro aveva già firmato il decreto. · The press office specified that the minister had already signed the decree.
• Mentre scriveva il verbale, la segretaria si accorse che mancava una firma. · While she was writing the minutes, the secretary noticed that a signature was missing.
• Nessuno immaginava che quella riunione sarebbe durata fino a mezzanotte. · Nobody imagined that the meeting would go on until midnight.

Indicative and subjunctive in one system

The time logic does not change with the mood. After verbs of opinion, doubt, fear, wish and appearance («pensare», «credere», «dubitare», «temere», «sperare», «sembrare», «è possibile che»), the subordinate clause takes the subjunctive, but the earlier, same-time, later grid is the same. After a present main verb, use the congiuntivo passato for an earlier event and the congiuntivo presente for a simultaneous one; after a past main verb, the congiuntivo trapassato and the congiuntivo imperfetto. The full pairings are set out under the sequence of subjunctive tenses; what matters here is how they work alongside the indicative.

There is no future subjunctive. For a later event after a present main verb, use the future indicative or the present subjunctive: «Credo che il Senato approverà la riforma» or «che approvi la riforma». After a past main verb the past conditional is the clearest choice: «Credevo che il Senato avrebbe approvato la riforma». The imperfect subjunctive is also used, especially after verbs of fearing, hoping and wanting, which already point forward: «Temeva che il ponte cedesse». A main verb in the conditional of wish takes the imperfect subjunctive: «Vorrei che tu restassi».

Mood can also carry viewpoint. «Capisco che sei stanco» states a fact the speaker has grasped; «Capisco che tu sia stanco» accepts it with sympathy (“I can understand you being tired”). «È vero che» takes the indicative, while «non è vero che» normally takes the subjunctive because the content is denied. In a narrative, «Sapeva che il ponte era lesionato» presents the damage as fact; «Temeva che il ponte fosse lesionato» presents it as the character’s fear, and the narrator makes no claim.

• Dubito che la commissione abbia letto tutti i documenti. · I doubt the committee has read all the documents.
• Speravamo che il governo rinviasse la decisione. · We were hoping the government would postpone the decision.
• All’epoca pochi credevano che il progetto sarebbe stato finanziato. · At the time, few people believed the project would be funded.

Reported thought and free indirect style

Reported thought works like reported speech: a verb of thinking, knowing or perceiving introduces the content, and the tenses shift from the character’s moment. «Pensò: “Domani parlerò con il sindaco”» becomes «Pensò che il giorno dopo avrebbe parlato con il sindaco». Time words move with the viewpoint («domani» becomes «il giorno dopo»); the full mechanics are covered under reported speech. After a past verb, a hypothetical sentence is usually reported with se + congiuntivo trapassato and the past conditional, whatever its original type: «Disse che, se avesse avuto tempo, avrebbe controllato i dati» can report «Se ho tempo, controllo i dati» as well as «Se avessi tempo, controllerei i dati».

Literary and journalistic narrative often drops the verb of thinking altogether. In free indirect style (discorso indiretto libero), the narrator’s voice takes on the character’s thoughts. The tenses stay shifted (imperfetto, trapassato, past conditional), but the questions, exclamations and time words belong to the character: «Marta guardò il fiume. L’acqua saliva ancora. Quanto avrebbe resistito il ponte? Domani sarebbe stato troppo tardi.» The word «domani» survives because it is Marta’s, while «sarebbe stato» belongs to the narration. That combination is how a reader recognises the character’s voice inside the narrator’s.

• Elena capì che non avrebbe mai saputo tutta la verità. · Elena realised she would never know the whole truth.
• Si chiedeva se qualcuno avesse letto la sua lettera. · She wondered whether anyone had read her letter.
• Chiuse gli occhi. Aveva sbagliato tutto, e adesso? Chi gli avrebbe creduto? · He closed his eyes. He had got everything wrong, and now what? Who would believe him?

Narrative viewpoint: choosing the reference point

Every account has a “now” from which it is told. In a historical narrative the reference point usually sits inside the past: the passato remoto or passato prossimo moves the events forward, the imperfetto gives the background, the trapassato prossimo looks back, and the past conditional looks forward to what the characters could not yet know: «Quando Elena lesse l’avviso, il ponte era già stato chiuso; il giorno dopo la piena lo avrebbe danneggiato.»

The narrator can also step out into the present of writing. «Oggi sappiamo che il ponte era lesionato da anni» moves the reference point to now: the knowledge is current, the damage stays in the past. With a present reference point, a single earlier event takes the passato prossimo or remoto, not the trapassato: «Oggi sappiamo che l’autore scrisse il romanzo in pochi mesi». A general truth may keep the present even after a past verb: «Galileo sosteneva che la Terra gira intorno al Sole»; «girava» is equally correct and simply keeps the narration inside the past.

The historic present (presente storico) is another choice of viewpoint. Once you adopt it, subordinate clauses follow the present grid: «Nel 1860 Garibaldi sbarca a Marsala: sa che l’impresa potrebbe fallire, ma spera che i siciliani si uniscano a lui». Choose one perspective per stretch of text and change it on purpose, signalled by words such as «oggi», «allora», «all’epoca» and «a distanza di anni».

• All’epoca nessuno sospettava che quella lettera sarebbe diventata famosa. · At the time nobody suspected that the letter would become famous.
• A distanza di anni, la testimone ammette di aver avuto paura. · Years later, the witness admits that she was afraid.