Conditional - Mood or Tense?

NicholasL23

NicholasL23

I'm a bit confused by the conditional. I understand the conjugations and when to use them, but grammatically - is it a mood or a tense? 

A LOT of material about the conditional from level 2 is gone now, but still shows up when you use the search function. It's presented as a tense in the “combining tenses” lessons, but it doesn't define the time you're referring to like the other tenses.  “Conditional” is one of the four moods and another lesson presents it as a mood. So which is it?

caterina-rocket-italian-tutor

caterina-rocket-italian-tutor

Hi NicholasL23, 

Thanks for your question!

Personally, I'd refer to the conditional as a mood (modo condizionale). However, sometimes, it is referred as "conditional tense" in some language learning materials (hence why it could be confusing, perfectly understandable!).

Within the conditional mood we find the present conditional and the past conditional.

Hope this clarifies, let me know if I can help you further :)

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