Almost like in an arcade game, when you study Italian, you’ll eventually face the final boss: the congiuntivo.
It’s actually an advanced grammatical skill, but many people hear about it before they reach that point, so they’re often quite intimidated.
But what exactly is the congiuntivo, and you really need it?
You maybe know congiuntivo by its English more natural name subjunctive. It’s a grammatical mood mainly used to express someone’s attitude toward an action or a situation. In Italian we use it to express wishes, emotions, opinions and similar stuff.
If you want to translate a sentence like I think that’s a good idea in Italian, you should use congiuntivo. So basically:
Io penso che sia una buona idea
instead of
Io penso che è una buona idea
Very roughly it’s what we talk about when we talk about congiuntivo.
Can I speak Italian even not knowing congiuntivo?
My advice as an experienced Italian language teacher is: never lose sight of your language goals. Do you need the congiuntivo to reach them? Maybe, or maybe not now.
Of course, if you want to speak perfectly Italian, you do need the congiuntivo. Personally, when I talk to Italian native speakers, I don’t fully trust people in positions of responsibility if they don’t use it properly. To me it’s a sign that I’m talking with an educated and careful person.
But you, as an Italian learner, don’t always need to speak perfectly. Maybe right now, you’re simply planning a vacation or you want to play football. No one will deny you services or food just because you don’t know the congiuntivo! No football supporter will be mad at you if you don’t use congiuntivo during an interview!
Let’s be real: in many situations, people will definitely understand you even if you don’t use the congiuntivo correctly.
So what’s the point? You can improve your Italian at any time, and it’s great to have challenges while learning, but you don’t necessarily need them all the time.
Just start speaking – perfection will come.
I offer Italian classes online for all levels. I’ll do my best to help you improve, feel confident and speak Italian to achieve your goals. Even if they include the congiuntivo! Send me a message and we’ll talk about it 🙂