Learning Italian....congiuntivo

Practice your target languages here.
nnmmss
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Aug 26, 2023 1:55 am
Languages: English, Persian, Italian

Learning Italian....congiuntivo

Postby nnmmss » Sat Aug 26, 2023 1:59 am

Hello

I want to say this sentence in Italian
"I think I have forgotten all I have read"

"Penso che io mi dimentichi tutte le cose ho letto"

is the sentence true. I am not sure how should I use "congiuntivo" for reflessiv verbo.

Thanks for help
0 x

User avatar
Iversen
Black Belt - 5th Dan
Posts: 5050
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2015 7:36 pm
Location: Denmark
Languages: Monolingual travels in Danish, English, German, Dutch, Swedish, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Catalan, Italian, Romanian and (part time) Esperanto
Ahem, not yet: Norwegian, Afrikaans, Platt, Scots, Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Albanian, Greek, Latin, Irish, Indonesian and a few more...
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1027
x 15991

Re: Learning Italian....congiuntivo

Postby Iversen » Tue Aug 29, 2023 7:46 pm

I am not an Italian, but I would just use the indicative there because we are speaking about a fact. But the subjunctive if the original sentence had been "I think I may (or might) have forgotten all I have read" - and subjunctive "abbia letto" if it had been "... all I have ever read". And "che ho letto", by the way. In some cases you can leave out the conjunction, but I doubt that it's the case here

Maybe I should consult my Italian grammar to reread the rules ... I don't like the thought that I didn't remember the ones that pertain to precisely these situations.
0 x

User avatar
tastyonions
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1642
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 5:39 pm
Location: Dallas, TX
Languages: EN (N), FR, ES, DE, IT, PT, NL, EL
x 4172

Re: Learning Italian....congiuntivo

Postby tastyonions » Wed Aug 30, 2023 12:17 am

Not a native speaker.

I’d use the infinitive: penso di essermi dimenticato tutte le cose che ho letto (or: tutto quello che ho letto).
2 x

User avatar
dedalus66
Yellow Belt
Posts: 81
Joined: Thu Jul 23, 2015 11:08 am
Location: Μελβούρνη, Αυστραλία
Languages: English (N), French (C1), Italian (B2), Greek (B1), Spanish (A2), Sicilian (Exploring)
x 149

Re: Learning Italian....congiuntivo

Postby dedalus66 » Wed Sep 25, 2024 6:50 am

I would probably go with something simpler: "penso di aver dimenticato tutto quello che ho letto". No need for the subjunctive - note: not a native speaker.
2 x
"To have another language is to possess a second soul." - Charlemagne

garyb
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1675
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 12:35 pm
Location: Scotland
Languages: Native: English
Advanced: Italian, French
Intermediate: Spanish
Beginner: German, Japanese
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1855
x 6581
Contact:

Re: Learning Italian....congiuntivo

Postby garyb » Wed Sep 25, 2024 8:55 am

dedalus66 wrote:I would probably go with something simpler: "penso di aver dimenticato tutto quello che ho letto". No need for the subjunctive - note: not a native speaker.
Exactly what I'd have said too. The subjunctive would be used if the subject of the main clause is different from the subject of the relative clause: "[Io] penso che lui abbia dimenticato..."
2 x

amaramara
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Nov 18, 2024 10:05 am
Languages: Italian (N), English (fluent), French (reader over speaker), toki pona (beginner)
x 3

Re: Learning Italian....congiuntivo

Postby amaramara » Mon Nov 18, 2024 10:16 am

As a native speaker, yeah the infinitive sounds more natural, and you can use it as long as the subject of the main and the subordinate clasuse match. The subjunctive "penso che io abbia dimenticato" sounds technically grammatical but somewhat clunky.
0 x


Return to “Multilingual Room”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest