Lesson Transcript

Hello everyone, welcome back to ItalianPod101.com.
My name is Desy.
Mi chiamo Desy.
And in this video, we're going to talk about ifs.
se
periodo ipotetico
se
se
As in English, in Italian as well, this pattern is made by two parts, a sentence and a consequence, right?
Easily said,
If you go to the supermarket, could you buy me some milk?
Se vai al supermercato, puoi comprarmi del latte?
Se vai, if you go, al supermercato, to the supermarket, puoi comprarmi del latte?
Could you buy me some milk?
So till here, everything may seem simple,
but the problem is that we have three types of periodo ipotetico, so hypothetical phrases.
Some may also say for it because then you can mix them,
but let's say three for now and let's check them together.
il periodo ipotetico zero
So the hypothetical phrase zero is the most simple one, and in this case, you can think of if,
of se, as in when.
So when this happens, then that happens as well.
For example,
Se mangi troppo, ingrassi.
If you eat too much, se mangi troppo, present tense, ingrassi.
You will get fat, you get fat, present and present tense.
Easy.
Se non studi tutti i giorni,
If you don't study every day,
Se non studi tutti i giorni,
È difficile imparare una lingua.
It's hard to learn a language.
È difficile imparare una lingua.
And this is not even included in the three types, right?
Because this is type zero, it's just present tense for both parts and it's linear.
If this happens, then this also happens, right?
And we're not even talking about possibilities there, it's just reality.
A equals B.
While when we talk about periodo ipotetico uno,
we're talking about a possibility that may come true if something else happens.
It's not that it happens 100%, but it's most likely to happen.
For example,
Se piove, non uscirò.
If it rains, I won't go out.
Se piove, non uscirò.
If it rains, I won't go out.
It's my choice, but I'm saying that if this happens, then I won't do that.
I could do that, okay, because it's not impossible for me to do that.
I decide not to do that.
Se piove, non uscirò.
Same goes for
Se non parti immediatamente.
If you don't leave immediately,
Se non parti immediatamente, perderai il treno.
You will miss the train.
Perderai il treno.
It's not 100% sure, but it's most likely to happen, right?
And it's a real possibility.
Se non parti subito.
Se non parti immediatamente.
If you don't leave immediately, you will miss the train.
Perderai il treno.
Present and future.
You could also use only future as well.
Se otterrò quel lavoro.
If I'll obtain, if I'll get that job,
Festeggeremo insieme al ristorante.
We'll celebrate together at the restaurant.
Se otterrò quel lavoro, festeggeremo insieme al ristorante.
Future and future.
Il periodo ipotetico 2 talks about something that is not impossible in your life in general,
but it's not possible at the moment.
It's something that based on facts, it's not a reality.
It could be, it's a possibility.
Se parlassi italiano, lavorerei in Italia.
If I spoke Italian, I would work in Italy.
Se parlassi is the nightmare tense of Italian, okay?
It's what everyone finds the most difficult.
Subjunctive, subjunctive.
Il congiuntivo.
Se parlassi italiano, lavorerei in Italia.
If I spoke Italian, I would work in Italy.
Lavorerei is just conditional.
So here the problem is that you have to study il congiuntivo and then use it.
There is no other way around it.
You have to study il congiuntivo, subjunctive, okay?
In case you've never heard of it, I'll just tell you the most used ones.
So essere and avere.
Essere, to be.
Actually, il congiuntivo starts with che, and that's how you recognize it.
But in this case, we're using if, so se.
Se io fossi.
If I were.
Se io fossi sportivo, giocherei a basket.
If I were sporty, if I were a sport type of person, giocherei a basket.
I would play basketball.
Se io fossi.
Se tu fossi.
Se lui fosse.
Se noi fossimo.
Se voi foste.
Se loro fossero, okay?
Same goes for avere, to have.
Se io avessi tanti soldi.
If I had a lot of money, girerei il mondo.
I'd go around the world.
Girerei il mondo.
Se io avessi tanti soldi.
If I had a lot of money.
Se tu avessi.
Se lui avesse.
Se noi avessimo.
Se voi aveste.
Se loro avessero.
This is il congiuntivo.
So il periodo ipotetico numero 2 tells us that if this thing happened, then this would also happen.
Se io avessi, farei.
If I had, I'd do.
The last one, il periodo ipotetico numero 3, tells us the same thing as type number 2, but in the past.
So it's something that can't be changed anymore and it goes the same.
So with subjunctive, congiuntivo and conditional, condizionale, but in past tense.
If this thing had happened, then this would also have happened or would be happening right now.
Se avessi studiato di più, avrei passato l'esame.
Se avessi studiato, the past.
Avessi, congiuntivo of avere, studiato, past.
Se avessi studiato di più.
If I had studied more.
Se avessi studiato di più, avrei passato l'esame.
I would have passed the exam.
Avrei passato l'esame.
Se fossi stato sportivo.
Using the same example as before, before it was so type number 2 was se fossi sportivo, giocherei a basket.
If I were a sport kind of person, I would play basketball.
It's not completely impossible, but it's not possible based on the facts that I have right now.
Type number 3 tells us that it's impossible.
For example, maybe I'm saying this when I'm super old and I cannot play any sports anymore.
I could say, se fossi stato sportivo, in the past.
If I had been a sport kind of person, a sport type person, avrei giocato a basket.
So not giocherei, conditional present, but avrei giocato in the past.
Avrei giocato a basket.
Se avessi avuto tanti soldi, if I had had a lot of money, not if I just had money,
se avessi soldi, but se avessi avuto tanti soldi, avrei girato il mondo.
I would have traveled the world.
Or you could also say, se avessi avuto tanti soldi, if I had had a lot of money.
Now, adesso, starei girando il mondo.
Right now, I would have been traveling around the world.
Girando instead of girato.
Avrei girato, starei girando.
Since I told you what's the congiuntivo for essere and avere, I also want to tell you the past form.
So se fossi becomes se fossi stato or avuto.
Se fossi stato, se avessi avuto.
Se loro avessero avuto un bambino, if they had had a kid,
se loro avessero avuto un bambino, avrebbero capito,
they would have understood, avrebbero capito cosa dicevano i genitori.
What the parents said.
Se loro avessero avuto un bambino, avrebbero capito.
Type number three, while type number two would be, try to think about it with me.
Se avessero un bambino, and that's it, because it's not in the past, it could still happen.
Se avessero un bambino, capirebbero cosa dicono i genitori.
They would understand what the parents say.
And that's it for rules.
I know it's really hard and believe me or not, a lot of Italians don't even know how to use that,
especially nowadays, a lot of people make a lot of mistakes.
In particular, the most common one, which is the one that I want you to pay attention to,
is that they use the past simple.
Se avevo, instead of se avessi or se facesti, se facevo.
Okay, because it's easier, of course, but it's also very, very wrong.
So my tip would be, of course, study il congiuntivo, study its objective.
But if you don't remember it, or if you are not really sure, if you're confused, just keep it simple, okay?
Use type zero or type one, and just know that il congiuntivo exists,
so that when you hear that, you know what people are talking about.
So you know that if they say avessero, and you may not know how to use this tense,
you know that they're talking about something that didn't happen, and it's only an if phrase, okay?
That's my tip, just get used to listen to congiuntivo and understand when people are not talking about something real.
Se avete domande, scrivete nei commenti.
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Thank you for watching, and I'll see you soon.
Ciao, ciao.
Bye, bye.

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