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- Topic: Italian >
- "Vorrei che mi chiamasse."
40 Comments
*I may be wrong, but I believe this is just a common grammatical construction in Italian.
Cond. + che + Imp. subj.
Basically, when the conditional requires a subj. clause, it requires the imp. subj. not the present subj.. So while Ind. goes "Voglio che mi chiami", the conditional mood requires. "Vorrei che mi chiamasse". I think this construction is called the "periodo ipotetico" - https://ciaoitaliablog.wordpress.com/classes/hypothetical-phrases/
English grammar has a similar construction.
I suggest (Ind.) that you be (pres. subj.) early
Contrast that with,
I would be (cond.) happy, if I were (past subj.) rich.
I would be happy, if he were to call me.
I can only think it's because the correct translation would be 'I would like him to have called me' but Duolingo seems to regard this as incorrect. (There are some more, similar, examples in this section) I'm going to assume that's the case in reality but remember to enter Duolingo's preference in order not to get marked wrong!
412
Any Italian speakers out there- why is the subject specifically male (not female) and difference between 'want' and 'would like'?
931
It would go the same way - it's accepting "I would like her to call me" as a translation of the same sentence. It's not accepting "them"-singular though, so I've reported that (14/01/2020).
560
The sentence is in present. Vorrei means "I would like", and the subjunctive then has to be in imperfect form, but still refers to the present (it's a general rule). It has already been mentioned in other answers. "Her" should be accepted otherwise.
437
Another americanism. I would say I would like him to phone me, but this is marked incorrect. In British English it is more natural and "call" does not involve a phone!