Table of Contents
Time to talk about the past. Italian has two main past tenses, and the one from this lesson, Passato Prossimo, is the workhorse: Italians use it for anything that happened and finished. I ate, I went, I bought, we saw. It’s built from two words, just like the English “I have eaten”.
How to build it
Passato Prossimo = AVERE or ESSERE in the present tense + the past participle of the main verb.
The past participle is easy to form:
-ARE verbs: -ATO (parlare – parlato, mangiare – mangiato)
-ERE verbs: -UTO (ricevere – ricevuto, vendere – venduto)
-IRE verbs: -ITO (dormire – dormito, finire – finito)
Ho mangiato una pizza – I ate a pizza
Hai dormito bene? – Did you sleep well?
Abbiamo parlato con il direttore – We spoke with the director
Which helper: AVERE or ESSERE?
Most verbs take AVERE. A smaller group takes ESSERE, mostly verbs of movement and change: andare (to go), venire (to come), arrivare (to arrive), partire (to leave), tornare (to return), uscire (to go out), entrare (to enter), nascere (to be born), morire (to die), stare, essere itself, and all reflexive verbs (we will meet them in a later lesson).
With ESSERE there is one extra rule: the participle agrees with the subject like an adjective, changing -o / -a / -i / -e:
Marco è andato a Roma – Marco went to Rome
Anna è andata a Roma – Anna went to Rome
I ragazzi sono andati al mare – The boys went to the seaside
Le ragazze sono andate al mare – The girls went to the seaside
With AVERE the participle doesn’t change: Marco ha mangiato, Anna ha mangiato.
Irregular participles
Of course, the most common verbs have irregular participles. Here are the ones you can’t live without:
| fare – to do | fatto |
| dire – to say | detto |
| leggere – to read | letto |
| scrivere – to write | scritto |
| vedere – to see | visto |
| prendere – to take | preso |
| mettere – to put | messo |
| aprire – to open | aperto |
| chiudere – to close | chiuso |
| bere – to drink | bevuto |
| essere / stare – to be | stato |
| nascere – to be born | nato |
| venire – to come | venuto |
| morire – to die | morto |
Yes, ESSERE and STARE share the participle “stato”. “Sono stato a Parigi” means “I have been to Paris”.
Negation and questions
Nothing new here. NON goes before the whole construction, questions work by intonation:
Non ho capito – I didn’t understand
Non siamo usciti ieri – We didn’t go out yesterday
Hai visto Marco? – Have you seen Marco?
Examples
Ieri ho lavorato tutto il giorno – Yesterday I worked all day
Che cosa hai fatto ieri sera? – What did you do last night?
Ho letto un libro e ho scritto due mail – I read a book and wrote two emails
Anna è nata a Palermo – Anna was born in Palermo
Siamo tornati a casa a mezzanotte – We came back home at midnight
Chi ha aperto la finestra? – Who opened the window?
Non hanno detto niente – They didn’t say anything
Il film è stato bellissimo – The movie was wonderful
Ho preso il treno per Roma – I took the train to Rome
Sei mai stato in Italia? – Have you ever been to Italy?
Vocabulary
| ieri – yesterday
ieri sera – last night capire – to understand finire – to finish ricevere – to receive vendere – to sell vedere – to see |
mettere – to put
nascere – to be born morire – to die entrare – to enter mai – never, ever niente – nothing tutto – all, everything |
Exercises
Put the verb into Passato Prossimo. Careful with the choice of AVERE or ESSERE!
- Io ______________ una lettera (SCRIVERE) – I wrote a letter
- Tu ______________ il film? (VEDERE) – Did you see the movie?
- Maria ______________ a Roma in treno (ANDARE) – Maria went to Rome by train
- Noi ______________ la porta (CHIUDERE) – We closed the door
- I miei genitori ______________ ieri (ARRIVARE) – My parents arrived yesterday
- Voi ______________ bene? (DORMIRE) – Did you sleep well?
- Lei ______________ un caffè (PRENDERE) – She had (took) a coffee
- Le ragazze ______________ alle sei (USCIRE) – The girls went out at six
- Io non ______________ niente (DIRE) – I didn’t say anything
- Dante ______________ nel 1265 (NASCERE) – Dante was born in 1265
- Noi ______________ tre giorni a Venezia (STARE) – We stayed three days in Venice
- Chi ______________ il mio gelato? (MANGIARE) – Who ate my ice cream?
Answers:
1: ho scritto; 2: hai visto; 3: è andata; 4: abbiamo chiuso; 5: sono arrivati; 6: avete dormito; 7: ha preso; 8: sono uscite; 9: ho detto; 10: è nato; 11: siamo stati; 12: ha mangiato