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Passato Prossimo, known as the Present Perfect tense in English, is one of the most commonly used tenses in Italian. I often say that you can get by fairly well in conversation, if you know Presente Indicativo, Passato Prossimo, Imperfetto, and Futuro.
Passato Prossimo is the tense used to express completed actions in the recent past - either immediate past or slightly more removed. So when you want to express something like: I have eaten , this is the tense to use! This is also the tense used to express Simple Past, and it is frequently translated as such in English. Consequently, ho mangiato translates as both I have eaten and I ate. Passato Prossimo is a compound tense. That is to say, it is comprised of two parts: the auxiliary verb and the past participle. The auxiliary verbs are AVERE and ESSERE (both are irregular verbs); in the compound formation they are used present tense conjugation. |
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AVERE - to have
io ho tu hai lui lei } ha Lei noi abbiamo voi avete loro hanno |
ESSERE - to be
io sono tu sei lui lei } è Lei noi siamo voi siete loro sono |
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Knowing which auxiliary verb to use can seem overwhelming at first. I'll focus on essere, since we tend to determine which verbs take essere, and then everything else takes avere.
Some sources state that essere is used with intransitive verbs (verbs that don't require a direct object, meaning there's no recipient of the action of the verb), but this is not always the case. It is also not always the case that essere is used with verbs of movement. However, these two tips can still be helpful.
To help you out, at the end of this lesson, you will find lists of commonly used verbs matched with the auxiliary verb they require. But for now, let's get on to forming the Passato Prossimo! |
REGULAR VERBS
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The past participles of regular verbs are formed fairly logically. Like other conjugations, we drop the ~ARE, ~ERE, or ~IRE ending and add the past participle ending:
~ARE past participles end in ~ATO ex. camminare ---> camminato [to walk] ~ERE past participles end in ~UTO ex. vendere ---> venduto [to sell] ~IRE past participles end in ~ITO ex. partire ---> partito [to depart/ to leave] |
Let's form the Passato Prossimo!
To form the compound tense of the Passato Prossimo we use:
[present tense of the auxiliary + past participle]
[present tense of the auxiliary + past participle]
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camminare - to walk (takes avere)
past participle: camminato io ho camminato I (have) walked tu hai camminato you (have) walked lui he (has) walked lei } ha camminato she (has) walked Lei you [formal] (have) walked noi abbiamo camminato we (have) walked voi avete camminato you all (have) walked loro hanno camminato they (have) walked |
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vendere - to sell (takes avere)
past participle: venduto io ho venduto I (have) sold tu hai venduto you (have) sold lui he (has) sold lei } ha venduto she (has) sold Lei you [formal] (have) sold noi abbiamo venduto we (have) sold voi avete venduto you all (have) sold loro hanno venduto they (have) sold |
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partire - to depart/to leave (takes essere) past participle: partito io sono partito/a I (have*) left tu sei partito/a you (have*) left lui è partito he (has*) left lei è partita she (has*) left Lei è partito/a you [formal] (have) left noi siamo partiti/e we (have*) left voi siete partiti/e you all (have*) left loro sono partiti/e they (have*) left Again, Italian is a gendered language in the traditional/antiquated sense. As mentioned above, verbs that take essere must agree in number and gender with the subject of the sentence. Therefore I, as a woman, would say "sono partita". For plural forms, the default is the masculine plural ending in ~i (partiti). Even if there is only one man in a group with 99 other women, we still use the masculine plural ending. The ~e (partite) ending is for groups of only women. ex: Mio fratello e mia sorella sono andati al negozio. - My brother and my sister have gone (went) to the store. Le mie sorelle sono andate al negozio. - My sisters have gone (went) to the store. *We continue to translate the Passato Prossimo as "have" [gone/ left/ exited...] even when essere is the auxiliary. |
IRREGULAR VERBS
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The good news about the "irregular" verbs is that it's really only the irregular past participle that you have to remember. They are otherwise formed in the same manner as above.
Here are some common verbs and their past participles: |
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essere ---> stato [to be (existence)]
accendere ---> acceso [to light/ to turn on] aprire ---> aperto [to open] bere ---> bevuto [to drink] chiedere ---> chiesto [to ask] chiudere ---> chiuso [to close] correre ---> corso [to run] decidere ---> deciso [to decide] dire ---> detto [to say] fare ---> fatto [to do/make] leggere ---> letto [to read] mettere ---> messo [to put ] morire ---> morto [to die] nascere ---> nato [to be born] |
perdere ---> perso [to lose] {less frequent perduto}
prendere ---> preso [to take] ridere ---> riso [to laugh] rimanere ---> rimasto [to remain] rispondere ---> risposto [to respond] scegliere ---> scelto [to choose] scendere ---> sceso [to descend] scrivere ---> scritto [to write] spegnere ---> spento [to turn off] stare ---> stato [ to be in a place ] vedere ---> visto [to see] {less frequent veduto} venire ---> venuto [to come] vincere ---> vinto [to win] vivere ---> vissuto [to live] |
BONUS TIP: adverbs of time like mai, sempre, ancora, appena, già, non...più are placed between the auxiliary and the past participle.
ex: Non ho mai visto quel film. >> I have never seen that film.
ex: Non ho mai visto quel film. >> I have never seen that film.
ESSERE O AVERE?
As promised, here are commonly used verbs paired with the auxiliary they require when forming the Passato Prossimo.
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These verbs take AVERE
avere aprire bere camminare capire chiamare comprare dare dire dormire fare guardare lavare leggere mangiare mettere potere prendere pulire scrivere sentire vedere volere |
These verbs take ESSERE
andare arrivare entrare essere diventare partire rimanere salire scendere tornare venire uscire |
Pratica! |
