The past

Formation

The passato prossimo is formed with the present of avere or essere and the past participle. With essere, the participle agrees with the subject: è andato, è andata, sono andati, sono andate.

Use

The following take essere:

• most verbs of movement to or from a place: andare, venire, arrivare, partire, uscire, tornare, entrare, salire, scendere, cadere;
• verbs of state and of change of state: essere, stare, rimanere, restare, diventare, nascere, morire, crescere;
• costare, sembrare, piacere and bastare, as well as succedere (to happen);
• all reflexive verbs: mi sono alzato, ci siamo visti.

Verbs of movement that describe an activity with no destination take avere: ho camminato, ho viaggiato, ho nuotato, ho corso. Vivere is usually used with avere (ho vissuto); sono vissuto is also correct. With piacere, the participle agrees with the thing liked, which is the subject of the verb: Mi è piaciuto il film, Mi sono piaciute le foto.

Formation

Many common verbs have an irregular past participle, which is learnt with the infinitive. Many end in -so (deciso, speso, acceso, sceso) or in -to (rotto, morto, scelto, vinto). An irregular participle does not affect the choice of auxiliary.

Formation

In the passato prossimo, già, ancora, mai, appena and più are usually placed between the auxiliary and the participle: ho già mangiato. Ancora, mai and più are used with non, placed before the auxiliary: non ho ancora finito, non sono mai stato, non l'ho più visto.

Use

Già means “already”; non… ancora, “not yet”; non… mai, “never”; non… più, “no longer”, “not any more”. In a question, mai means “ever”: Sei mai stato a Venezia? Appena between the auxiliary and the participle expresses a very recent past, like “just”: Ho appena finito.

Formation

The passato prossimo of dovere, potere and volere is formed with avere and the regular participle, followed by the infinitive: ho dovuto, ho potuto, ho voluto.

Use

The modal verb takes avere when the infinitive that follows takes avere itself: Ho dovuto lavorare, Non ho potuto dormire. With an infinitive that takes essere, the modal usually takes essere too (Sono dovuto partire), but avere is also correct and common: Ho dovuto partire. English has no past of “must”: “I had to” is ho dovuto; “could” and “didn’t want to” are ho potuto and non ho voluto, followed by the infinitive with no “to”.

Formation

With avere, the past participle normally does not change: Ho visto Anna. It agrees in gender and number with the direct object pronouns lo, la, li and le placed before the verb: l'ho visto, l'ho vista, li ho visti, le ho viste. Lo and la are elided before the auxiliary; the ending of the participle then shows the gender. With ne, the participle usually agrees with the noun replaced: ne ho prese sei; the participle with no agreement is also correct: ne ho preso sei.

Use

The participle does not agree with the indirect object pronouns gli and le: Le ho telefonato (I phoned her). The difference can be heard: le ho viste (I saw them) and le ho parlato (I spoke to her).

Use

Cominciare and finire take avere when they have a direct object or when the subject is a person doing the action: Ho finito il lavoro, Abbiamo cominciato alle otto. They take essere when the subject is the thing that starts or finishes: Il film è finito, La lezione è cominciata.

Formation

The imperfetto is formed from the infinitive without -re, followed by -vo, -vi, -va, -vamo, -vate, -vano: parlare → parlavo, prendere → prendevo, dormire → dormivo. Verbs in -isc- have no -isc- in the imperfetto: finivo, capivo. In the third person plural, the stress falls on the third syllable from the end: parlàvano, prendèvano. Essere is irregular: ero, eri, era, eravamo, eravate, erano. The imperfetto of fare, dire and bere is formed from the stem of the gerund: facevo, dicevo, bevevo. Avere is regular: avevo.

Use

The imperfetto is used for a past habit (Da bambino andavo al mare ogni estate), for a description in the past (the weather, someone’s age, a place, a state: Era una bella giornata, Avevo dieci anni) and for an action in progress in the past. C'era and c'erano describe what there was in a place. Da bambino, da piccolo, da giovane mean “as a child”, “when I was little”, “when I was young”; they are used with no verb.

Use

In a past narrative, the passato prossimo expresses completed events, those that move the story forward: Sono uscito, ho preso l'autobus e sono arrivato in ufficio. It is also used for an action whose length is stated and over: Ho dormito dieci ore. The imperfetto expresses the background, descriptions, habits and the action in progress when an event happens: Pioveva e faceva freddo. For an action in progress interrupted by another, the action in progress is in the imperfetto, introduced by mentre (while), and the interrupting action is in the passato prossimo: Mentre cucinavo, è arrivato Marco. Durante (during) is followed by a noun: durante la cena.