Today I have two ‘new’ exercises on conditional forms, and a ‘Book Of The Week’ offer, of which more later.
But first, the grammar. The topic is conditionals.
Yuk!
Part of the problem with studying conditional structures in Italian is the terminology.
These two exercises were originally called ‘periodo ipotetico della possibilità’ and ‘periodo ipotetico della impossibilità’, which confused the hell out of me.
I’ve therefore renamed them ‘present conditional’ and ‘past conditional’, which I think is what they actually are.
But that’s not the whole problem because a ‘present conditional’ could be either ‘real’ or ‘unreal’ (hypothetical). As could a past conditional, of course.
Insomma, we have (at least) four options, all with different grammar. For example:
‘If I have some cash left over at the end of the month, I’ll go to the sales.’ (real present)
‘If I had some cash, I’d go to the sales.’ (unreal present)
‘If I had time after classes, I’d go to the park with my friends.’ (real past – I did this when I was a student)
‘If I had chosen a different career, I’d have had a higher income.’ (unreal past – I didn’t do it)
To do today’s exercises, which are intermediate level, you’ll need to know the verb forms used for the unreal present (‘periodo ipotetico della possibilità’) and the unreal past (‘periodo ipotetico della impossibilità’).
For reference, take a look at these lessons from our Italian Grammar Lessons series:
Lesson 18 Conditional Present (the hypothetical present verb form)
Lesson 28 Unreal Present (the hypotetical present verb form as used in sentences)
Lesson 23 Conditional Past (the hypothetical past verb form)
Lesson 29 Unreal Past (the hypotetical past verb form as used in sentences)
And here are the two ‘new’ exercises. I’ll confess, I didn’t even attempt them. Click the links to see why:
New ‘Book Of The Week’ Offer Starts Today
Also today, I have a new ‘Book Of The Week’ offer for you. That’s 50% off the usual price of one of our older e-book easy readers, which you might not therefore have in your collection.
Il campo di papaveri (The Poppy Field) was written by my wife (and partner in our Italian school), Stefi.
So of course, it’s a romance. But a good one, well worth spending time on.
The level is A2/B1, so a lowish intermediate (not A1/B1 as it mistakenly says on the cover…)
A young artist, who can’t pay his rent, offers to paint his landlord’s flat instead. But guess who the landlord’s daughter turns out to be?
That’s me in the picture, by the way. I’m a struggling young artist, delivering one of my masterpieces…
Anyway, you can get chapter 1 for free by clicking on this link: Free Sample Chapter (.pdf)
And if that inspires you, here are some other links to click on:
- Buy the FULL VERSION of ‘Il campo di papaveri’ for just €4.99 this week!
- Other easy readers at THIS LEVEL
- Easy readers at OTHER levels
- Italian Grammar e-books and similar
- Online Italian lessons with a club teacher
The offer ends on Sunday night sometime.
A mercoledì!