Past conditional
Form an unreal past result and a careful regret.
Form: auxiliary plus past participle
The past conditional uses the present conditional of avere or essere plus a past participle: avrei scelto, sarebbe partito. With essere, the participle agrees with the subject: sarebbe arrivata for a woman, sarebbero arrivati for a group of men or a mixed group. The form can name a past action that did not happen. In the fictional archive case, the interview pilot was not started.
- Avrei consultato prima i volontari.· I would have consulted the volunteers earlier.
- Antonio sarebbe arrivato per un colloquio, se avesse accettato.· Antonio would have come for a conversation if he had agreed.
- Le volontarie sarebbero arrivate nel pomeriggio.· The women volunteers would have arrived in the afternoon.
- Avremmo preparato un nuovo preventivo.· We would have prepared a new quote.
Regret, possibility, and source
Avrei dovuto plus infinitive expresses a missed duty or a regret. Avremmo potuto plus infinitive expresses a past possibility. Neither wording proves a different outcome. The past conditional can also report an event that was future from a past viewpoint, as in Elena pensava che il consiglio avrebbe deciso a giugno. In an archive report, say what actually happened separately.
- Avrei dovuto ascoltare i volontari.· I should have listened to the volunteers.
- Avremmo potuto invitarlo, ma il suo consenso non era certo.· We could have invited him, but his consent was not certain.
- Elena pensava che il consiglio avrebbe deciso a giugno.· Elena thought the council would decide in June.
- Il consiglio scelse l’inventario nel 2019.· The council chose the inventory in 2019.