This lesson will show you how to use the principle Italian past tense, the “passato prossimo”.
Italian has a “near past” tense and a “remote past” tense. The latter is used mostly in narratives (novels and the like) so in normal conversation you will not normally need to choose between them. Just use the passato prossimo, as explained on this page.
For English speakers, there is one point of confusion: in English, you choose between the Simple Past tense (“I studied”) and the Present Perfect tense (“I have studied”). When speaking Italian, both forms would translate as the passato prossimo, even though the passato prossimo LOOKS more like the second one (“Ho studiato” = “I have studied”??) because of the use of the auxiliary verb “avere”.
It’s confusing, but the thing to remember is that when you’re talking, you use the passato prossimo 99% of the time.
The “passato prossimo” is formed with the auxiliary verb essere OR avere + participio passato (past participle).
Just in case you’re still vague on the conjugation of “essere” and “avere”, here they are:
essere – to be
io sono
tu sei
lui/lei è
noi siamo
voi siete
loro sono
avere – to have
io ho
tu hai
lui/lei ha
noi abbiamo
voi avete
loro hanno
You probably don’t know the “participio passato” (past participle) of the verbs you’ve learnt, but not to worry!
You can normally form the “participio passato” from the infinitive of a verb (this only applies to “regular” verbs) by changing the ending of verb:
-are → ato (mangiare-mangiato)
-ere → uto (avere-avuto)
-ire → ito (dormire-dormito)
So when you want to talk about a past action or event, you need to use avere or essere plus the past participle. But which one? Avere or essere?
The majority of verbs use “avere”, just like in English (I have studied). For example:
Paola ha dormito a lungo.
Mario ha visitato un museo.
Io e Marco abbiamo pranzato in un locale tipico.
I ragazzi hanno mangiato una pizza.
But essere is used with:
– verbs of movement
– verbs of changing state
– reflexive verbs
For example:
Paola è andata al cinema.
Mario è andato al cinema.
Io e Maria siamo andate al cinema.
I ragazzi sono andati a casa.
Note that with “essere” the ending of the past participle changes to reflect the gender and singluar/plural of the subject.
The final thing you need to remember is that there are regular and irregular past participle forms.
Examples of regular past participle forms:
andare – (essere) andato/a
avere – (avere) avuto
tornare – (essere) tornato/a
dormire – (avere) dormito
cercare – (avere) cercato
montare – (avere) montato
mangiare – (avere) mangiato
preparare – (avere) preparato
guardare – (avere) guardato
Examples of irregular past participle forms:
fare – (avere) fatto
mettere – (avere) messo
venire – (essere) venuto
prendere – (avere) preso
essere – (essere)stato/a
leggere – (avere) letto
rimanere – (essere) rimasto
aprire – (avere) aperto
dire – (avere) detto
scegliere – (avere) scelto
scrivere – (avere) scritto
uscire – (essere) uscito/a
vedere – (avere) visto
Back to Italian lesson on: The Past