Future and Conditional in the First Person Plural

Daniela’s lesson this week explains how to form the conditional with verbs ending in “-are.” But endings notwithstanding, the first person plural of verbs will always have a single “m” in the future, and a double “m” in the conditional. So, aside from learning the conjugations, it’s important, as Daniela mentions, to be able to distinguish between -emo, and -emmo. Let’s focus for a moment on the first person plural of the future and the conditional. It’s a good chance to practice double “m’s.”

Here’s the future tense of potere (to be able to) and riuscire (to manage to), with one “m.” The narrator is about to show us some film clips, so it’s a sure thing.

In una serie di filmati, eh, nella... [sic] nel tempo di una pausa caffè,

In a series of film segments, uh, in the... in the time of a coffee break,

potremo vedere alcuni eh castelli, alcuni anfiteatri,

we'll be able to see some uh castles, some amphitheaters,

alcuni templi, della regione della Campania.

some temples, of the region of Campania.

In questo modo appunto riusciremo a parlare di tutte [sic] questi siti archeologici.

That way, we'll be able to talk about all of these archaeological sites.

Captions 9-12, Escursioni Campane - Castello Normanno
Play Caption

In the following example, we find the conditional, so in this case there are two “m’s.” Can you hear them? Try practicing the difference between potremo and potremmo!

Se ti invito a cena questa sera potremmo leggerli tutti.

If I invite you for supper tonight we could read all of them.

Caption 74, Il Commissario Manara - S1EP1 - Un delitto perfetto
Play Caption

Let’s look at some more examples. Try rolling them around on your tongue, making sure that the double “m” sits there a moment before pronouncing the “o.”

In the next examples, the meaning is clear. The autopsy is going to take place, so they will find out what they need to know. They use the future.

Se ci sono altre cose lo scopriremo dopo l'autopsia.

If there are other things, we'll find out after the autopsy.

-Qualcosa la sappiamo già adesso.

-We already know something right now.

Captions 20-21, Il Commissario Manara - S1EP4 - Le Lettere Di Leopardi
Play Caption

In the following example, chef Gualtiero Marchesi uses se (if) plus the subjunctive in one clause, and the conditional in the other. This is a classic combination.

Noi finiamo sempre con l'aggiungere delle cose che saranno anche buone,

We always end up adding things that may well be good,

ma se provassimo a [sic] approcciare il prodotto per il prodotto,

but if we tried approaching a product for the product itself,

credo che scopriremmo un mondo nuovo.

I think we'd discover a new world.

Captions 21-23, L'arte della cucina - Terre d'Acqua
Play Caption

For more about the conditional and subjunctive together see this lesson.

To hear more words in the future and conditional, look them up on a conjugation chart, at WordReference, for example, and then do a Yabla search of the conjugation you want to examine, so you can hear the verbs in context pronounced by Italians.

Topics Grammar