The Use of the Conditional Perfect for the Conditional Present in Italian

Extract

Characteristic of the Italian Language is the modern use of the conditional perfect instead of the present. This interchange of tenses is not permitted by either of her two living sister languages, French and Spanish. Nor does English admit such constructions: we are not allowed to say, for example, “He said he should have done it tomorrow,” but must say, “He said he would do it tomorrow.” In Italian on the other hand, there are numerous examples of this construction as the following quotations will illustrate:

“Ma se avessi alcuno luogo di fuori, in nel qual fusse persona che tu fidare te ne potessi, io direi che tu la Pippa quine mandassi, et aresti fuggito il pericolo tuo e quello della tua donna, che la dei piu amare che te.” Sercambi.