Lombard/Hypothetical construction

The hypothetical construction: comparison between English and Lombard
In Lombard, as in English there is the hypothetical period, the correspondence between the verb tenses used in Lombard and in English is shown in the table below.


 * Note

Other forms for the second type hypothetical construction
Instead of Imperfect Subjunctive in de if-clause you can also use constructions like:


 * (1) Imperfect Subjunctive of the verb "vesser" + de + verb in the infinitive form

or
 * (2) Imperfect Subjunctive of the verb "havégh" + de + verb in the infinitive form
 * Note


 * Examples (in Milanese dialect):
 * (1) se fussi de trovàll, ghe parlaria mi
 * (If I were to find him I would talk to him)
 * (2)se gh'havessi de trovàll, ghe parlaria mi
 * (If I were to find him I would talk to him)

Eventually the hypothetical period can be realized without if by using instead al (or its dialectal variants) + infinitive. This construction is confined to cases where the hypothesis concerns something that could happen and not something that could be in a certain way and when the subject (implied) of the hypothetical clause coincides with that of the main one.


 * Example (in Milanese dialect):
 * (3) al trovàll, ghe parlaria. (If I happened to find him, I would talk to him / When I find him, I 'll talk to him.)


 * in which "al + verb in the infinitive form" is equivalent to saying "the moment the subject of the main sentence happened to + verb in the infinitive form'".