Let's talk about the past

Parliamo del passato

To report an action, event or fact that took place in the past you need to use the past tense of the
verb. In Italian, to express actions, events, etc. that took place and were completed in the past
you use the passato prossimo.

This corresponds to 3 English tenses.

Passato prossimo – the perfect tense – I saw

– the present perfect – I have seen
– the emphatic past – I did see

Ho girato molto,
Che città hai visitato, ho visitato tutte
Stephen? le città principali.

Hai incontrato i
parenti? E hai Sì, abbiamo
conosciuto delle incontrato tutti i
belle ragazze parenti e ho
italiane? conosciuto delle
bellissime ragazze.

Pino: What cities did you visit,

Stephen?

Stephen: I moved around a lot,

I visited all the main cities.

Pino: Did you meet your relatives?

And did you get to know some
beautiful Italian girls?

Stephen: Yes, we met all the relatives and

I got to know some extremely
beautiful girls.
Passato Prossimo with - Avere

As you see from the dialogue above, the passato prossimo consists of two words:

1. In most cases the first word is the present tense of the verb avere (revise the forms of
avere in Section 6 - Irregular verbs). Verbs which use avere to form the past tense are
referred to as:

Transitive verbs have an object in the sentence on which the action is carried out by
the subject.

e.g. Io (subject) ho mangiato una mela (object) What did I eat?

I ate an apple.

The avere part is called an auxiliary (helper) because it helps to

indicate who has done the action.

Auxiliary Person doing the action Action

hai tu visitato visited

ho io girato toured

abbiamo noi incontrato met

2. The second word is the past participle of the verb that you want to put in the past
tense. (In English to make the past participle you add -ed to regular verbs.)

visit visitare

visited visitato

Regular Past Participles

How do you form the past participle of a verb in Italian?

By adding -ato to the stem of regular verbs (the stem is that part
-uto of the verb which remains after dropping the -are, -
-ito ere or -ire ending, e.g. visitare – visit-)

Infinitive Stem Past participle ending Past participle

visitare visit- -ato visitato

vedere ved- -uto veduto

finire fin- -ito finito

Please note:

 Many verbs have an irregular past participle. These need to be memorised.

 The past participle is usually invariable, which means that it doesn’t change its ending.
e.g. Stephen ha conosciuto le ragazze.
Le ragazze hanno conosciuto Stephen.

 In negative sentences non is placed before the verb avere.

e.g. Ieri Pino non ha finito i compiti.
Yesterday Pino did not finish his homework.
Irregular past participles

Learn the meaning of each verb and its part participle.

Infinitive Past participle

to read leggere — letto read

to put mettere — messo put

to take prendere — preso taken

to write scrivere — scritto written

to close chiudere — chiuso closed

to make/to do fare — fatto made/done

to say dire — detto said

to answer rispondere — risposto answered

to drink bere — bevuto drunk

Examples

Cos’ hai fatto ieri? What did you do yesterday?

Ho scritto una lettera e ho letto un libro. I wrote a letter and read a book.

Scusa, cos’ hai detto? Excuse me, what did you say?
Ho risposto al telefono. I answered the phone.

Hai visto Teresa? Have you seen Teresa?

Sì, abbiamo preso un caffé insieme al bar. Yes, we had a coffee together at the coffee
lounge.

Hai bevuto il tè? Have you drunk the tea?

No, perchè non ci ho ancora messo lo zucchero. No, because I haven’t put the sugar in it yet.

Perchè hai chiuso la porta? Why did you close the door?
Perchè ho freddo. Because I’m cold.
Passato Prossimo with - Essere

Some commonly used verbs use the present tense of essere (see Section 6 - Irregular verbs)
(not avere) to form the passato prossimo. You’ll notice that most of them express movement
(coming, going, returning, etc.). These verbs are known as:

Intransitive verbs DO NOT have an object in the sentence. The action is done by the
subject to the subject itself.

e.g. Sono andato a scuola. Where did I go?

I went to school.

The subject of a verb is the noun or pronoun which most closely refers to the verb. It is found
by asking the question ‘who’ or ‘what’ before the verb.

Example

Marina è andata al cinema.

Who has gone to the movies?

Answer: Marina
Marina is the subject of the verb è andata

As you see, the past participle of andare, andata, behaves just like an adjective and agrees with
the subject, Maria.
List of most common Intransitive verbs
Examples
Maura è andata in campeggio.
È partita mia figlia.
È entrata a prendere una bibita.
Sei tornato dopo tanti anni.
Come sei salito lassù?
Sono caduto dall’albero.
Sono venuta a prendere Gino.
Siamo stati in piazza.
Carletto è diventato un generale.
Maura went camping
My daughter has left.
She went in for a soft drink.
You’ve come back after many years.
How did you climb up there?
I fell from the tree.
I’ve come to pick up Gino.
We were in the square.
Charlie has become a general.
 Here is the passato prossimo of andare (to go).

Andare
masculine feminine
sono andato sono andata
singular sei andato sei andata
è andato è andata

siamo andati siamo andate

plural siete andati siete andate
sono andati sono andate

Please Note:

 the auxiliary is essere, not avere

 the past participle agrees, like an adjective –in gender (masculine or feminine) and
in number (singular or plural) with the subject of the verb.
 all reflexive verbs also use essere in the past (see Section 6 - Reflexive verbs)

Summing up
 The passato prossimo can be formed by using either avere or essere as auxiliary
 Most verbs use avere. These verbs are called TRANSITIVE,
 Some verbs expressing motion and some commonly used verbs use essere. They are
called INTRANSITIVE
 When the auxiliary is essere, the past participle of the verb agrees with the subject.

Ciao. Mi chiamo Valentina.

Ieri sono andata al mare e

ho nuotato. Poi ho letto un libro

e mi sono riposata.
Memorise this list of verbs that form the passato prossimo with essere.

Infinitive Past participle

andare (to go) andato
venire (to come) venuto
arrivare (to arrive) arrivato
partire (to leave) partito
entrare (to enter) entrato
uscire (to go out) uscito
salire (to climb) salito
scendere (to come down) sceso
rimanere (to stay) rimasto
tornare (to return) tornato
ritornare (to return) ritornato
essere (to be) stato
stare (to be, to stay) stato
restare (to remain) restato
diventare (to become) diventato
riuscire (to succeed, to be able) riuscito