Learn Italian Passato Prossimo

In this video lesson we are going to learn how to use PASSATO PROSSIMO. This is the ultime super clear and straightforward explanation of this verb tense! This verb tense is extremely used in the Italian language! So if you are a beginner you MUST learn it and use it!

So give me a thumbs up on YouTube and grab a pen and paper and be ready to take notes… you will have mastered it by the end of the video!

So first thing… when do we use PASSATO PROSSIMO? We are using it to talk about the PAST.

How do we form it?

We need to take the present tense of ESSERE or AVERE and we need to add the past participle of the verb.

Let’s break it down:

• I RAGAZZI HANNO MANGIATO LA PIZZA

HANNO is the present tense of the verb AVERE

MANGIATO il the past participle of the verb MANGIARE

Do you remember the present tense of Essere and Avere? 

My YouTube video on ESSERE and AVERE

ESSERE

• Io sono
• tu sei 
• lui / lei è
• noi siamo 
• voi siete
• loro sono

AVERE

• io ho 
• tu hai 
• lui / lei ha
• noi abbiamo 
• voi avete
• loro hanno

So these are you verbs essere and avere… they will be your auxiliary verbs that will need to be used together with the past participle.

Lets take two verbs and conjugate them at the passato prossimo:

PARLARE

• Io ho parlato 
• tu hai parlato
• lui ha parlato
• lei ha parlato
• noi abbiamo parlato
• voi avete parlato
• loro hanno parlato

As you can see the past participle never changes. It will always stay parlato even if you change from masculine to feminine or if you have a singular or plural form. So it will always end with ATO in all the forms.

Look at what happens with the auxiliary ESSERE and the verb AVERE:

ANDARE

• Io sono andata/o
• tu sei andata/o
• lui è andata/o
• noi siamo andate/i
• voi siete andate/i
• loro sono andate/i

in this case when we use the auxiliary verb ESSERE you will have to match gender and number. This is a general rule! SO remember that when you use the auxiliary verb AVERE everything stays the same BUT if you have the auxiliary verb ESSERE you need to match!

Take note of this because it is super important!

Now let’s look at how we for the past participle of the verbs.

For regular verbs that end with ARE (like parlare) we take alway the ARE and we add ATO

• PARLARE - PARLATO

For regular verbs that end with ERE (like vendere) we take alway the ERE and we add UTO

• VENDERE - VENDUTO

For regular verbs that end with IRE (like partire) we take alway the IRE and we add ITO

• PARTIRE - PARTITO

So far so good.. right… well the big problem with the past participle is that there is a huge amount of irregular verbs… that you need to learn as you find them in your learning journey! There are no secret tricks here… unfortunately you must learn them. In the pdf that you can download for free I have created a list of them!

I will make a video with the most common ones… and we can say them aloud together. For now check them out in the list in the download! If this sounds nice remember to like this video so I can keep making more!

FREE download (pdf of the lesson and excel file with irregular past participles)

Now… the BIG question when we are talking about passato prossimo is not only with the irregular verbs… but also when do I use Essere and when do I use AVERE? This can be difficult to master.

The main rule is to ask yourself the question

Does the main verb answer the question Chi (who) Che cosa (what)?

If the answer is YES then use the verb AVERE.

Let’s look at an example to make this clear:

• Ho salutato la mamma. 

Break down the sentence… look for the verb… the verb is salutato which in the infinitive form is SALUTARE… can I use this verb and ask who did I say hi to? 

(Chi ho salutato?) Yup! This works! so with this verb I will use AVERE.

Let’s try with another verb PREPARARE (to prepare)

• Paolo ha preparato la pizza. 

The verb is PREPARARE - which mean to prepare… can I ask the question chi or che cosa? 

Let’s try:

PREPARARE CHE COSA? The answer would be pizza… so YES it does answer the question CHE COSA so I can use the auxiliary verb AVERE

The more you use these verbs in your everyday language the easier it will be… you will basically no longer need to think of which verb to use it will become automatic to use either avere or essere. I suggest to make different sentences that you could potentially use in your everyday life and start with those.

For example if you know that you often talk about what you did last weekend you can start building sentences on that:

• Sabato sono andata al cinema
• Questo fine settimana ho mangiato un piatto di pasta.

Write a sentence in the comments of the YouTube video!

Tell me what you did yesterday! I will check it for you!

Ok back to the auxiliary verbs… 

When do we use the auxiliary ESSERE?

Here you have a list of options that you need to consider:

You use it when you have 

• Verbs of movement - what is a verb of movement? Any verb that refers to physically moving from one place to another. For example: andare, venire, uscire, partire...

• Reflexive verbs - like lavarsi, divertirsi, farsi, prepararsi. For example: Franca and Sofia si sono divertite al cinema

Be careful with the verb ESSERE the participio passato will always match gender and number

For example:

• Sono andata a prendere il pane 
• Luigi è andato a prendere il pane
• Maria e Luisa sono andate a prendere il pane
• Matteo e Gianni sono andati a prendere il pane

To remember and work on these verbs we can use the house of Essere - La casa di Essere

This is a visual scheme that lets you focus on the verbs that need to use the verb ESSERE. You can use this scheme to visualize the verbs and also to make up stories about the people in the house! This is a good practice to get you thinking and using the passato prossimo with essere in the correct way!

Remember that I told you that we are using this verb to talk about the past?

The verb avere will always use the auxiliary avere: 

• Ho avuto un’idea brillante

and Essere will always use ESSERE:

• Io sono stata in Francia l’anno scorso. 

With this in mind please note that you can use expressions of time with the PASSATO PROSSIMO.

What are expressions of time? Well they are those words that you use to say that an action was carried out in a moment of time… for example in English it would be yesterday, last month, one day ago…

Let’s look at them in Italian… obviously I’m looking at those expressions that are linked to the past

• Ieri,
• ieri sera,
• ieri mattina,
• due giorni  fa,
• una settimana fa,
• un anno un mese fa,
• lunedì scorso,
• il mese scorso,
• l’anno scorso,
• domenica scorsa,
• la settimana scorsa,

So for example you can say

• Ieri sera ho mangiato una pizza

You have IERI SERA which is your expression of time and then you have your PASSATO PROSSIMO.

Download the free PDF and remember to write a sentence in the comments!