This is a FREE Italian lesson for all Italian students studying at intermediate level. I know Passato Prossimo isn’t easy to understand. I hope you find this Italian grammar lesson useful. If you already speak Italian (Italian GCSE or Italian A level) and want to maintain your level of knowledge. I do run two Intermediate Italian Classes in Didsbury and Chorlton if you want to find out more: hello at learnitalianmanchester.co.uk
Conjugating regular Italian verbs in the Passato Prossimo
The Passato Prossimo is most often used like what we would call the “Simple Past” or “Present Perfect”. It is formed by using either the verb essere or avere in the present tense followed by the past participle of the verb you want to use. For Example if you wanted to say “I ate” you would first conjugate avere in the present tense and then follow it with mangiato, the past participle for mangiare. With the subject pronoun included it would look like this;
Io ho mangiato (I ate or I have eaten)
Regular past participles are easy to form. You simple remove the infinitive ending and apply the past participle ending as shown below;
Verbs ending in ARE use ATO, for example; mangiare – are = mangi + ato = mangiato
Verbs ending in ERE use UTO, for example; credere – ere = cred + uto = creduto
Verbs ending in IRE use ITO, for example; finire – ire = fin + ito = finito
There are many verbs that use an irregular past participle. These you will need to commit to memory and many of these can be found on pages 54 & 55 of Italian Verb Drills by Paola Nanni-Tate I like to use math equations as an example but first here are the past participle endings for all regular verbs;
Verbs ending in AREato | Verbs ending in EREuto | Verbs ending in IREito |
To conjugate the regular ARE verbs in the passato prossimo = conjugated auxiliary verb + (infinitive verb – infinitive ending = verb stem + past participle ending) = conjugated verb. Example;
Abbiamo (to have for we) + [Parlare (To Speak) – are = Parl + ato (past pariciple ending)] = Abbiamo Parlato (We spoke or we have spoken)
Parlare conjugated in the passato prossimo
Io Tu Lui/Lei Noi Voi Loro |
Ho parlato Hai parlato Ha parlato Abbiamo parlato Avete parlato Hanno parlato |
I spoke or have spoken You spoke or have spoken He/She/It spoke or has spoken We spoke or have spoken Y’all spoke or have spoken They spoke or have spoken |
To conjugate the regular ERE verbs in the passato prossimo = conjugated auxiliary verb + (infinitive verb – infinitive ending = verb stem + past participle ending) = conjugated verb. Example;
Abbiamo (to have for we) + [Credere (To Believe) – ere = Cred + uto (past pariciple ending)] = Abbiamo Creduto (We believed or we have believed)
Credere conjugated in the passato prossimo
Io Tu Lui/Lei Noi Voi Loro |
Ho creduto Hai creduto Ha creduto Abbiamo creduto Avete creduto Hanno creduto |
I believed or have believed You believed or have believed He/She/It believed or has believed We believed or have believed Y’all believed or have believed They believed or have believed |
To conjugate the regular IRE verbs in thepassato prossimo = conjugated auxiliary verb + (infinitive verb – infinitive ending = verb stem + past participle ending) = conjugated verb. Example;
Abbiamo (to have for we) + [Sentire (To Hear) – ire = Sent + ito (past pariciple ending)] = Abbiamo Sentito (We heard or we have heard)
Sentire conjugated in the passato prossimo
Io Tu Lui/Lei Noi Voi Loro |
Ho sentito Hai sentito Ha sentito Abbiamo sentito Avete sentito Hanno sentito |
I heard or have heard You heard or have heard He/She/It heard or has heard We heard or have heard Y’all heard or have heard They heard or have heard |
Choosing the correct auxiliary verb when using Passato Prossimo
Regarding auxiliary verb selection for the Passato Prossimo:
1. All transitive verbs (the verbs which can take a direct object…) use the auxiliary avere.
2. All reflexive verbs use the auxiliary essere …
3. Intrasitive verbs … can use avere or essere …
Due to the third point, some memory work is required to determine which verbs use essere. You can find a list of common verbs conjugated with Essere in the Passato Prossimo on page 53 of the book Verb Drills by Paola Nanni-Tate
It is important to note here than when you use a verb in the Passato Prossimo with the verb essere, the past participle must agree with the subject in gender and number. For example the verb andare or “to go”
Lui è andato (he went) or Lei è andata (she went)
Gli uomini sono andanti (the men went) or Le donne sono andate (the women went)
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