21.7 Come Se and Per...Che Language

21.7 Come Se and Per...Che
Language & Culture Lessons
Bentornati. I'm sure you are more confident with “if” sentences now!
In this lesson we are going to learn some particular forms used with the subjunctive. In the cultural part we'll discover the dream of most
Italians.
Language
Come Se and Per...Che
In our Rocket Italian Premium Plus course we looked at expressions that precede and link to the subjunctive mood. But there are three
particular expressions which work differently than the usual hypothetical sentences: come se, e se and per...che.
Come se corresponds to the English “as if” or “as though”. It is always followed by the imperfect subjunctive or by the past perfect
subjunctive, no matters what the tense is in the main clause.
How does it work?
The construction of the sentence is very easy:
Main clause (for every
tense)
+ come
se
+ imperfect or present perfect
subjunctive
Per esempio:
Loro si comportano come se fossero i titolari del ristorante
They behave as though they were the owners of the restaurant
Gianni cantava come se fosse stato da solo
Gianni sang as if he had been alone
Qualche volta ci si sente come se il mondo ci cadesse addosso
Sometimes we feel as though the world is falling down on us
Tu mi hai guardato come se avessi ucciso qualcuno
You look at me as if I had killed someone
Gianni cantava come se fosse stato da solo - Gianni sang as if he had been alone
As you can see, in the main clause we have used the present, present perfect, and imperfect.
More expressions with come se:
Parlava con gli altri come se niente fosse
He was speaking with the others as though nothing happened
Maria insegnava tre lingue come se niente fosse
Maria used to teach three languages easily (as if nothing was
strange about it)
Mi tratti come se non sapessi cosa fare
You treat me as if I didn't know what to do
Lei si ricorda quella festa come se fosse ieri
She remembers that party as though it were yesterday
Giovanni si sentiva come se non fosse mai partito
Gianni felt as if he had never left
Voi parlate come se non venissero alla festa
You all speak as if they weren't coming to the party
Maria insegnava tre lingue come se niente fosse - Maria used to teach three languages easily
**Note! The expression “come se niente fosse” can have different meanings depending on the subject of the sentence. Generally it
means “as if nothing is happened” or “as if nothing were strange about it”.
E…se
How does it work?
It corresponds to the English “What if” in a question and it always follows the verb in the subjunctive mood. The construction is very
easy:
+ present indicative subjunctive
E se + imperfect subjunctive
+ past perfect subjunctive
Per esempio:
E se Gianni non torna?
What if Gianni doesn't come back?
E se avessero ragione loro?
What if they were right?
E se fosse stata colpevole?
What if she had been guilty?
E se fosse stata colpevole? - What if she had been guilty?
Per...che sentence
How does it work?
This is another unusual construction which introduces the subjunctive mood. Let's see how it works:
Per + adjective + Che + subjunctive mood
Per esempio:
Per divertente che sia, non ha fatto ridere nessuno
Funny though he is, he didn't make anybody laugh
Culture
II. Cultura
Superenalotto
One of the dreams for most Italians is to win the Superenalotto. It's an Italian lottery that has been played since 1997 with three draws
every week. It is considered one of the most played lotteries in Europe and in fact its jackpot has reached 149.6 million Euros.
But the oldest lottery in the country is il lotto and it's still recognized as the most played. Apparently it seems to appear with a different
name and similar rules around 1400s.
It entered in popular Italian tradition since the smorfia has been created. The smorfia is a book of dreams from which you can extract the
lucky numbers to play lotto.
But Italy has many other lotteries connected with different events during the years such as la lotteria di capodanno, the lottery of New
Year’s Eve, la lotteria del carnevale di Viareggio, Viareggio Carnival lottery, la lotteria del giro d'Italia, the Italian Giro lottery and so on.
In addition to this Italians love to play all kinds of different betting pools like il totocalcio, in which you have to guess 14 results of Italian
serie A, first league soccer matches.
Bravissimi! You've finished this lesson.
Arrivederci ... See you again!
Maria DiLorenzi
Rocket Italian
Libros Media Ltd. - Copyright 2004-2013
USA: 8721 Santa Monica Blvd #1229, Los Angeles, CA 90069-4057, USA | Phone: +1-310-601-4958
Asia/Pacific: 2-1008 Ferry Road, Woolston, Christchurch 8023, New Zealand | Phone: +64-3-384-6350