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Italian Articles
How to use the ‘passato prossimo’ in Italian?
By: Silvia Giorgini Althoen Fri Jul 26 2024
In Italian, we use the passato prossimo to tell stories and share memories, as you might do using the English simple past (“I ate”) or present perfect (“I have eaten”). The passato prossimo is a compound tenseNo definition set for compound tenseLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. in Italian, and we specifically use it for:
a finished action in the recent past, often concluded in a precise time frame.
Ieri ho parlato con Marco.
Yesterday, I talked with Marco.
a past event whose effects continue in the present.
Ho appena finito il libro.
I just finished the book.
In this post we’ll take you through everything you’ll need to know about the passato prossimo, including when to use it, how and when to form it using essere(to be) and avere(to have). The passato prossimo is considered the most frequently used past tense in Italian, so let’s find out why!
Table of Contents
What is ‘passato prossimo’ and how is it used?
The passato prossimo is a tenseNo definition set for tenseLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. in Italian used to talk about the past. In Italian, there are different ways to talk about past events:
we use the imperfetto when talking about recurring or ongoing events in the past
we use the passato prossimo when talking about events that are concluded
We can see the use of the passato prossimo in these two examples:
Sono tornato da due giorni.
I came back two days ago.
I am returned two days ago.
Ho mangiato una pizza favolosa!
I ate a fantastic pizza.
I have eaten a fantastic pizza.
These two examples, sono tornato(I came back / I’ve come back), and ho mangiato(I ate / I’ve eaten), represent actions that happened at a certain moment in the near past, and are considered finished, completely concluded so we use the passato prossimo.
The passato prossimo is also used to express a past action whose effects continue in the present, as long as the action itself is finished at some particular moment:
Mi sono appena fatta la doccia.
I just had a shower.
→ Here, appena(just), is suggesting that some effects of the shower are still evident: your hair is still dripping wet!
But remember:
If an action is ongoing or recurring in the past, use the imperfetto(imperfect).
If an action happened a long time ago, you could use the passato remoto(remote past).
You’ll only use the passato prossimo if the action is recently finished (and completed) and/or its effects are evident in the present.
How to form the ‘passato prossimo’?
To form this tense you’ll either use essere(to be) or avere(to have), and the one you use will depend on the verb you’re using. It’s called a “compound tense” because it combines two pieces: an auxiliary verb (avere/essere) and the main verb (the past participle).
Picture two paths: one with essere and one with avere! We’ll talk later on about how to choose which path you’ll follow for a given verb, but for now, let’s talk about how to follow each of these paths!
Path 1: How to form the ‘passato prossimo’ with ‘essere’?
To form the passato prossimo with essere, you’ll combine the present tense of essere with the past participleNo definition set for past participleLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum..
essere
to be (present tense)
past participle
Let’s begin by learning the forms of the verb essere(to be) in the presente(present):
io sono | noi siamo |
tu sei | voi siete |
lui/lei/Lei è | loro sono |
Now, let’s go over how to form and use past participles with the verb essere.
Regular past participles translate to English words with this structure: verb-ed. In Italian, are formed in Italian by dropping the endings -are, -ere, and -ire from the infinitiveNo definition set for infinitiveLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. form of the verb, and changing them according to the chart below:
-are -ato | arrivare to arrive = arrivato arrived |
-ere -uto | credere to believe = creduto believed |
-ire -ito | pulire to clean = pulito cleaned |
In Italian, there are some past participles that are irregularNo definition set for irregularLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.. To learn about these check out the table of the most common Italian irregular past participles, or have a look at this table for tips on how to form the irregular past participle in Italian!
Tip
Important
When using essere(to be) the past participle agreesNo definition set for agreesLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. in gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural) with the subject of the sentence.
Feminine Singular | Feminine Plural | Masculine Singular | Masculine Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
Carla è uscita presto. Carla went out early. | Carla e Linda sono uscite presto. Carla and Linda went out early. | Alberto è uscito con Marco. Alberto went out with Marco. | Alberto e Marco sono usciti insieme. Alberto and Marco (the boys) went out together. |
Did you know?
People make the subject-verb agreement according to how they identify themselves (masculine or feminine). They can also use the non-binary/neutral letter “ǝ” in the participle, and/or they can write an asterisk (*).
Siamo arrivatǝ ieri. / Siamo arrivat* ieri.
We arrived yesterday.
Now that we know how to conjugate essere in the present and how to use the past participles, let’s see how to form the passato prossimo with an example!
Let’s say we want to say “I came back two days ago.”
The verb for “to come back” in Italian is tornare. In compound tenses like passato prossimo this takes essere(to be).
First we ask, who is the subject? → “I” = io
Now we pick the form of essere in the present tense → io sono
Now we find the past participle of tornare → tornato…and make it feminine singular (like the subject!) → tornata
Put it all together, and we get…
Sono tornata da due giorni.
I came back two days ago.
Tip
Thepassato prossimoof Italian reflexive verbs is always formed using essere!
For reflexives, remember to use the reflexive pronoun + the present of essere + the past participle.
I bambini si sono messi i guanti.
The children put gloves on.
Path 2: How to form the ‘passato prossimo’ with ‘avere’?
To form the passato prossimo with avere(have), combine the present tense of avere with the past participle.
avere
to have (present tense)
past participle
Ieri ho mangiato una pizza favolosa!
Yesterday, I ate a fantastic pizza.
Let’s go over the conjugation of avere in the presente(present):
io ho | noi abbiamo |
tu hai | voi avete |
lui/lei/Lei ha | loro hanno |
Now, let’s put it together with the past participle (which we covered above!) to form the passato prossimo. Luckily, with the verb avere, the past participle doesn’t usually change forms! In most cases you’ll just use the -o ending, though there is an exception which we’ll talk about below.
For now, let’s look at an example. Let’s say you want to say “I ate a fantastic pizza” in Italian.
The verb “eat” is mangiare in Italian, a verb that is formed with avere(to have)
We ask ourselves, who is the subject? → “I” = io
Choose the correct form of avere in the present → Io ho
Form the past participle of mangiare: mangiato
Put it together and we get…
Ho mangiato una pizza favolosa!
I ate a fantastic pizza!
In this example, ho is the present of avere(to have) with the past participle, mangiato, of mangiare(to eat).
Exception!
If you’re using avere, the only case where the participle will agree (-a, -i, -e) is when you are using a direct object pronounNo definition set for direct object pronounLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.. In this case, the past participle will agree in gender and number with the object pronoun, not with the subject of the sentence:
Sandro ha comprato i pantaloni. Li ha comprati ieri.
Sandro bought pants. He bought them yesterday.
How to tell if a verb uses ‘essere’ or ‘avere’ in the ‘passato prossimo’?
In the passato prossimo, the vast majority of verbs take avere and only a few take essere. However, these few verbs happen to have the most frequently used verbs, so it feels like we are always using essere!
Luckily, there are some general rules you can use to identify verbs that will probably take essere. For example:
reflexive verbsNo definition set for reflexive verbsLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. like lavarsi(to wash oneself), mettersi(to put on), etc.
reciprocal verbsNo definition set for reciprocal verbsLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. like sposarsi(to get married), baciarsi(to kiss each other), and incontrarsi(to meet each other)
verbs indicating a change in state such as nascere(to be born), a state such as essere(to be), or a change in direction such as andare/venire(to go/to come).
All other verbs take avere! Easy-peasy, right?
Tip
A great way to learn the verbs that take essere is by using this clever device: “Casa di Essere,” and if you want test your knowledge check this out!
Interested in more detail and some more examples and advice? Check out our post on using auxiliaries essere and avere in Italian compound tenses! The rules are the same for all of them!
Summing up
The passato prossimo is the most frequently used past tense in modern Italian, and now you can confidently converse with your friends about finished/completed events. All you have to do is:
Use two words: the present tense of the auxiliary (essere/avere) + the past participle.
Check if the verb takes essere or avere and use them in the present tense.
Remember that the past participle matches in gender (feminine/masculine) and number (sing/plural) if the verbs follow the present of essere + past participle “path.”
Ready to follow the paths to success? Have fun with these activities!
Downloadable Resources
Elevate your language-learning journey to new heights with the following downloadable resources.
How do you use the ‘trapassato prossimo’ in Italian?~Irregular past participles TableHow do you use the ‘trapassato prossimo’ in Italian?~Imperfect of Essere and Avere TableHow to use the ‘passato prossimo’ in Italian?~Activities
