Why is this in imperfect subjunctive. Does vorrei che tu venga… not work?
Grazie
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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.
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I think that after “vorrei” “venissi” is obligatory.
“Voglio che sia ma vorrei che fosse” , but maybe this rule is too simple
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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.
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Mille grazie, MRgK and Morbrorper. Un madrelingua confirms that after the Conditional the Past Subjunctive (congiuntivo imperfetto) must be used.
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Treccani agrees:
https://www.treccani.it/magazine/lingua_italiana/domande_e_risposte/grammatica/grammatica_1061.html
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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”.
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