How to Talk About the Past in Italian: A Guide to the Passato Prossimo

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Italian past tenses differ in how they present an event. The passato prossimo is a compound tense that presents a past event as completed or bounded. It can refer to recent or distant events.

In this lesson, we will show you how to use it and will give you some tips to help you with the use of these three past tenses.

Using the passato prossimo

As mentioned previously, the passato prossimo refers to something that happened in the past. It is used in the following situations:

• an action which occurred in the recent past:

Sono andata dal parrucchiere ieri pomeriggio – I went to the hairdresser yesterday afternoon (the action took place a short time ago)

• an action which is clearly defined in time:

Ho lavorato dalle 8:00 alle 19:00, sono esausto – I worked from 8am to 7pm, I’m exhausted

• an action which occurred some time ago and the results of the action can still be felt in the present day:

Nel 2002 sono entrate in circolazione le banconote e le monete in euro – Euro banknotes and coins entered circulation in 2002 (the effects of the action are still felt in the present)

• an experience in your life:

Ho frequentato un corso di italiano all’università – I attended an Italian course at university

• an action which was concluded but the time period (for example, today, this week) hasn’t finished yet:

Quest’anno siamo andati in vacanza insieme – This year we went on holiday together (this year hasn’t finished yet)

• a completed event, whether ordinary or unusual:

Due anni fa siamo andati a Torino – We went to Turin two years ago

The closeness of a past action to the present can be either based on time or on feelings.

How to form the passato prossimo

As you might have noticed, the passato prossimo is a compound tense, which means that it has more than one word in its construction.

The passato prossimo is formed by using two verbs:

• the present form of auxiliary verbs “essere” or “avere”;
• the past participle (participio passato) of the verb expressing the meaning.

To make the past participle of regular verbs you just have to take off the infinitive ending -are, -ere or -ire and add the correct ending. Just follow this simple rule:

• the past participle of verbs ending in -are is -ato: lavorare>lavorato, mangiare>mangiato, preparare>preparato;
• the past participle of verbs ending in -ere is –uto: credere>creduto, temere>temuto, piovere>piovuto;
• the past participle of verbs ending in -ire is –ito: partire>partito, gestire>gestito, stupire>stupito.

Parlare

Ho parlato	I spoke or have spoken
Hai parlato	You spoke or have spoken
Ha parlato	He/She/It spoke or has spoken
Abbiamo parlato	We spoke or have spoken
Avete parlato	You (plural) spoke or have spoken
Hanno parlato	They spoke or have spoken

Credere

Ho creduto	I believed or have believed
Hai creduto	You believed or have believed
Ha creduto	He/She/It believed or has believed
Abbiamo creduto	We believed or have believed
Avete creduto	You (plural) believed or have believed
Hanno creduto	They believed or have believed

Sentire

Ho sentito	I heard or have heard
Hai sentito	You heard or have heard
Ha sentito	He/She/It heard or has heard
Abbiamo sentito	We heard or have heard
Avete sentito	You (plural) heard or have heard
Hanno sentito	They heard or have heard

There are many irregular verbs in the past participle, so check them out. Some of the common irregular past participle are:

fare (to do/make)	fatto
dire (to say/tell)	detto
prendere (to take)	preso
aprire (to open)	aperto
bere (to drink)	bevuto
chiedere (to ask)	chiesto
chiudere (to close)	chiuso
scrivere (to write)	scritto
tradurre (to translate)	tradotto
vivere (to live)	vissuto
vedere (to see)	visto

How to choose the auxiliary verb?

Does the verb you want to use need the auxiliary verb to be or to have? The majority of verbs take “avere” as their auxiliary verb.

In active constructions, transitive verbs take avere. A transitive verb can take a direct object, as in Ho mangiato i ravioli. The object can be omitted when context makes it clear: Ho già mangiato (“I have already eaten”).

Ho scritto una lettera di reclamo	I wrote a complaint letter
Ieri ho mangiato i ravioli con ricotta e spinaci	Yesterday I had ravioli stuffed with ricotta and spinach

You have to use “essere” with:

• all reflexive verbs:

Mi sono svegliato presto	I woke up early
A che ora ti sei alzato?	What time did you get up?
Ci siamo innamorati cinque anni fa	We fell in love five years ago

• many intransitive verbs, including the following groups. These are useful patterns, not a rule that every movement or state verb takes essere:
• verbs that express movement, like andare (to go), venire (to come), uscire (to go out), partire (to leave), tornare (to come back), arrivare (to arrive):

Sono andato in Italia l’anno scorso	I went to Italy last year

• verbs that express lack of movement, like stare (to stay) and rimanere (to remain);
• verbs that express state of being, physical or mental state, or processes of change, like essere (to be), nascere (to be born), morire (to die);
• verbs for events such as succedere and accadere. These have grammatical subjects: È successo un imprevisto (“An unexpected problem occurred”).

Here are some things to remember:

• Intransitive verbs such as dormire, rispondere and viaggiare take avere. Vivere can take either auxiliary in intransitive uses; learn the construction with its context.
• the verb piacere (to like) requires the auxiliary “essere”;
• With essere, the participle agrees with the subject: i ragazzi sono andati, le ragazze sono andate. With avere, it normally does not agree with a following noun object. Agreement is required with preceding direct-object pronouns lo, la, li, le: l’ho vista, li ho visti. The first two examples below illustrate this latter pattern.

Hai visto Lorenzo? Sì, l’ho visto	Have you seen Lorenzo? Yes, I’ve seen him
Hai visto Gabriella? Non l’ho vista	Have you seen Gabriella? No, I haven’t seen her
I ragazzi sono andati a sciare	The guys went skiing
Le tue amiche sono arrivate	Your friends have arrived

Here is a list of verbs that take “essere” as their auxiliary verb:

Andare: Dove sei andato stamattina? Sono andato in banca – Where did you go this morning? I went to the bank

Venire: Paola e Simone sono venuti a trovarci domenica scorsa – Paola and Simone came to see us last Sunday

Partire: Patrizia è partita ieri – Patrizia left yesterday

Uscire: Questa mattina sono uscito presto – This morning I left early

Tornare: Nadia è tornata a Edimburgo la scorsa settimana – Nadia came back to Edinburgh last week

Arrivare: Monica e Antonella sono arrivate – Monica and Antonella have arrived

Stare: Sei mai stata a Palermo, Elena? – Have you ever been to Palermo, Elena?

Rimanere: Giulia è rimasta a casa tutto il giorno – Giulia stayed at home all day

Nascere: Tommaso è nato a luglio – Tommaso was born in July

Morire: È morto il famoso scrittore Andrea Camilleri – The renowned writer Andrea Camilleri died

Diventare: Federica è diventata mamma – Federica has become a mom

Piacere: Le foto sono piaciute a tutti – Everyone liked the photos

When to use the imperfect tense instead of the passato prossimo?

It may be difficult to correctly choose between the passato prossimo and the imperfect tense (imperfetto) when you try and talk about the past in Italian. Here are some tips which we hope will help you with the use of these two tenses.

The passato prossimo presents an event or a series of events as complete. It does not require the event to be recent or to happen only once.

Tre anni fa sono andata a Treviso	I went to Treviso three years ago
Sono andata in Toscana l’anno scorso	I went to Tuscany last year

These examples present trips as completed events. To describe a recurring habit without emphasizing its endpoint, use imperfetto:

Ogni anno andavamo in Toscana	Every year we used to go to Tuscany

Repetition alone does not force imperfetto. Compare Andavo a lezione ogni mercoledì (“I used to go to class every Wednesday”) with Sono andata a lezione quattro volte (“I went to class four times”): the second summarizes a completed series.

When describing the way a place, person or thing was, you use the imperfetto in Italian.

Da piccola avevo i capelli biondi	When I was little I used to have blonde hair
Faceva troppo caldo	It was too hot

When a completed event interrupts an ongoing background action, use imperfetto for the background and passato prossimo for the event. Two parallel ongoing actions can both use imperfetto.

Mentre andavo al supermercato ho visto Davide	While I was going to the supermarket I saw Davide
Mentre guardavo la televisione è suonato il telefono	While I was watching TV the phone rang

Which phrases are typically used with the passato prossimo? Here is a list of expressions that are usually used with the passato prossimo:

Stamattina	this morning
Ieri	yesterday
Ieri pomeriggio	yesterday afternoon
Ieri sera	last night
L’altro giorno	the other day
Tre giorni fa	three days ago
Il mese scorso	last month

What’s the difference between passato remoto and passato prossimo?

The choice between passato remoto and passato prossimo is not simply a division between distant and recent dates. Passato remoto commonly presents a completed event as detached from the present, especially in narrative and historical writing. Regional spoken preferences also matter.

Cristoforo Colombo arrivò nei Caraibi nel 1492	Columbus arrived in the Caribbean in 1492
Michelangelo nacque nel 1475	Michelangelo was born in 1475

We use the passato prossimo to talk about something that still has an impact on the present.

Ci siamo sposati undici anni fa	We got married eleven years ago

English also has several ways to talk about the past. Italian and English tense choices do not correspond one to one.

Used to translate both the English perfect and the simple past, the passato prossimo is much more used than the remote past tense in Italy. Northern Italians tend to use almost exclusively the passato prossimo, whereas further South, especially in Sicily, Campania, Basilicata, Apulia and Calabria, the remote past tense is often used to describe fairly recent events.

To sum up…

• The passato prossimo presents what happened as a completed event, in a recent or distant past.

Ieri sera ho cucinato per i miei amici	Last night I cooked for my friends
Mi sono iscritto all’università due anni fa	I enrolled at university two years ago

• You need to use the present tense of either the auxiliary verb “essere” or “avere” and the past participle of the verb expressing the action.
• The Italian passato prossimo can occur with a finished past-time expression such as giovedì scorso. English normally uses the simple past in this context, rather than the present perfect.

Ho visto quel film giovedì scorso	I saw that film last Thursday
Roberta gli ha parlato ieri sera	Roberta spoke to him last night

Remember that English and Italian have different tense forms and most of the time you can’t make an exact correspondence between Italian and English tenses. The choice of an English tense to translate Italian depends more on conveying the meaning than trying to use a corresponding tense form.

The passato prossimo can translate either English simple past or present perfect. Choose the English form that conveys the context: Ho visto il film ieri (“I saw the film yesterday”); Hai mai visto questo film? (“Have you ever seen this film?”).

Practice as much as you can until you get the hang of it. Till next time!