A Grammar of Italian Sequence of Tense - Lear

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A Grammar of Italian Sequence of Tense
speaker appears. Hence, according to the hypothesis illustrated above, it selects a non-
DAR subjunctive.
4.3. The imperfect and the future-in-the-past
As I briefly suggested above in section 2.2, the imperfect and the future-in-the-past are
not relational verbal forms. The interesting fact is that they both appear in indicative
contexts, hence, in contexts where in Italian normally the DAR is found. Let me
consider the imperfect first.
When embedded, the imperfect is simultaneous with the superordinate event:
(60) Gianni mi ha detto che Maria mangiava un panino
Gianni told me that Maria was eating(IMPF) a sandwich
If a temporal topic is inserted, the imperfect event is then understood as simultaneous
with it:
(61) Gianni mi ha detto che ieri alle 5 Maria mangiava un panino
Gianni told me that yesterday at five Maria was eating(IMPF) a sandwich
In this case the event of eating might precede the saying and takes place exactly
yesterday at five. Note however that if a temporal topic is not provided, either overtly in
the sentence, or by the context, in Italian it is impossible to understand the eating as
preceding the saying. 26
Consider also that CD is impossible with the imperfect, showing that this verbal form
actually patterns with the indicative and not with the subjunctive:
(62) Gianni mi ha detto *(che) mangiava un panino
Gianni told me (that) she was eating(IMPF) a sandwich
(63) Gianni credeva (che) mangiasse un panino
Gianni believed (that) she was eating(PAST SUBJ) a sandwich
26 . In this the Italian imperfect differs from English, in that the past progressive was eating, even without
any expressed temporal adverb, at least for some speakers, can refer to an event preceding the saying.