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Amy Chambless
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Passato Prossimo
Practice:Passato Prossimo

The passato prossimo is one of several past tenses in Italian and is probably the
one you will use most. It is used to describe actions that were completed in the
past, such as:

I took the exam last Friday.

We went to Italy two months ago.

It can also be used to describe an action that began in the past but continues to
apply to the present, such as:

I have been to Italy three times in my life.

We have not finished the exam yet.

The passato prossimo is a compound tense, meaning it is made up of two verbs.

The first verb is a conjugated form of essere or avere; the second is the past
participle of the main verb. Let's get on to an example that will help you understand
the tense and the terminology used to describe its components:

Mario ha mangiato la pizza. Mario ate the pizza.

In this example, ha is the conjugated form of avere. Conjugated just means that the
verb has a particular ending that goes with the subject, in this case the lui/lei form
of the verb to agree with Mario. Following, mangiato is called the past participle of
the main verb mangiare (to eat).

Past participles are formed from the infinitive of the main verb by dropping the –are,
–ere, or –ire and adding –ato, –uto, and –ito, respectively. For example:

infinitive past participle

parlare parlato

credere creduto

finire finito

Forms
The chart below lists forms of verbs in the passato prossimo, conjugated with
avere and essere. Consider the forms and the questions that follow.

parlare andare credere mettere capire

io ho sono ho ho ho capito
 parlato andato/a creduto messo

hai sei hai hai hai

tu
parlato andato/a creduto messo capito

ha e' ha ha
lui,lei,Lei ha capito
parlato andato/a creduto messo

abbiamo siamo abbiamo abbiamo abbiamo

noi
parlato andati/e creduto messo capito

avete siete avete avete avete

voi
parlato andati/e creduto messo capito

hanno sono hanno hanno hanno

loro
parlato andati/e creduto messo capito

Looking at these conjugations should make you think about two issues:

Why use essere with andare and not with the other verbs?

Why is messo the past participle of mettere?

Excellent questions! Their answers will suggest to you the major things you need to
learn in order to master this tense!

Essere vs. Avere

When verbs are used in the passato prossimo, some go with essere and some with
avere. The choice often appears more difficult than it really is. Keep the following
points in mind:

All transitive verbs (verbs that have objects, like mangiare - to eat, scrivere
- to write, suonare - to play, telefonare - to call) go with avere.

Many verbs that indicate movement (e.g. andare - to go, venire - to come,
uscire - to go out, partire - to depart), go with essere.

Many verbs that indicate stasis or immobility (e.g. stare - to stay, essere -
to be, restare - to stay, rimanere - to remain), go with essere.

Many verbs that indicate a change of state (e.g. cambiare - to change,

diventare - to become, nascere - to be born, morire - to die, ingrandire - to get
bigger) go with essere.

All reflexive verbs (e.g. arrabbiarsi - to get angry, lavarsi - to wash oneself,
chiamarsi - to be called) go with essere.

While it is a good idea to keep these

rules in mind, it may also be helpful
to memorize common verbs that go with essere.
When you learn new
verbs in your textbook or from your dictionary, those
verbs that go with
essere in the passato prossimo will be flagged for you. Put these on
notecards!

Past Participles
Many verbs have irregular past participles. Examples include the following:

infinitive past participle

 bere bevuto

decidere deciso

dire detto

essere stato

fare fatto

leggere letto

mettere messo

morire morto

nascere nato

perdere perso

prendere preso

rimanere rimasto

scrivere scritto

vedere visto

venire venuto

Keep a chart of all the irregular past participles as you learn them,
in your notebook
or on notecards, to review before quizzes and exams.

These past participles are important to know not only for the passato
prossimo, but for several other compound verb tenses (e.g. past perfect,
future perfect, past conditional, and past subjunctive). If you learn them
well the first time, you will have less work later on.

Practice Exercises

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