Why is this in imperfect subjunctive. Does vorrei che tu venga… not work?
Grazie
Welcome! Questions about the congiuntivo are always interesting. For me the “che” tells me subjunctive imp (…would come) but yes, venga also seems to fit. I’m sure there’s a better explanation, just adding my two cents worth.
I think that after “vorrei” “venissi” is obligatory.
“Voglio che sia ma vorrei che fosse” , but maybe this rule is too simple
In the corpus, the past subjunctive is in the vast majority, but we also have “Io vorrei che qualcuno lo chieda a Tom.”
My hypothesis is that it’s a matter of nuance: if “vorrei” expresses a wish (maybe unrealistic) you use the past subjunctive, but if it’s a polite request you can use the present.
Mille grazie, MRgK and Morbrorper. Un madrelingua confirms that after the Conditional the Past Subjunctive (congiuntivo imperfetto) must be used.
Treccani agrees:
https://www.treccani.it/magazine/lingua_italiana/domande_e_risposte/grammatica/grammatica_1061.html
Nice to hear that my little helper “voglio che sia ma vorrei che fosse” is indeed valid.
Btw, something like that is in German called “Eselsbrücke”, literally a bridge for a donkey.
Unfortunately, I could not find a good translation:
Both English and Italian seem to have only the rather prosaic “mnemonica” / “mnemonic”.