Verb Drills 1 - Lesson 11

Italian verbs in the Passato Prossimo (irregular past participles)

After this class you should;
be able to conjugate regular verbs in the passato prossimo
understand the difference between the passato prossimo and the imperfetto

Grammar

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 ARE

ato

Verbs ending in ERE

uto

Verbs ending in IRE

ito

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)

Credere 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

The book "English Grammar for Students of Italian" says 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)

As is always the case with gender when the plural subject is a mix of masculine and feminine you use the masculine. Now lets look at the verb Andare in the passato prossimo = conjugated auxiliary verb + (infinitive verb – infinitive ending = verb stem + past participle ending that agrees in gender and number) = conjugated verb. Example;
siamo (to be for we) + [Andare (To go) - are = And + ati (past pariciple ending for masculine plural)] = Siamo Andati (We went or we have gone)

Andare conjugated in the passato prossimo

Io
Tu
Lui/Lei
Noi
Voi
Loro

Sono andato or andata
Sei andato or andata
È andato or andata
Siamo andati or andate
Siete andati or andate
Sono andati or andate

I went or have gone
You went or have gone
He/She/It went or has gone
We went or have gone
Y'all went or have gone
They went or have gone

As with all other tenses, there are verbs that are irregular, this time by having irregular past participles. These past participles will have to be committed to memory in order to learn them. A list of the more common irregular past participles will appear in the vocabulary section of this lesson

Printable Homework

Basic Exercise on auxiliary verb selection for passato prossimo

advanced online exercise

Vocabulary

acceso
aggiunto
apparso
appeso
appreso
aperto
assunto
bevuto
chiesto
chiuso
colto
compreso
concluso
confuso
conosciuto

turned on
added
appeared
hung
learned
opened
hired
drunk
asked
closed
gathered
comprehended
concluded
confused
known

convinto
coperto
corso
corretto
cotto
deciso
difeso
detto
discusso
distinto
diviso
eletto
espresso
fatto
incluso

convinced
covered
ran
corrected
cooked
decided
defended
said or told
discussed
distinguished
divided
elected
expressed
done or made
included

Printable Vocabulary

Downloadable Podcast

printable crossword

Comprehension

Printable Practice Sheets

printable comprehension crossword

useful Italian phrase;

Buona Pasqua
Happy Easter

Class Dialog

Try to learn how to say everything below in Italian (using the simple present tense for the progressive present), print out and bring the printable form of this dialog and be prepared to say the dialog below for one of the persons in class.

Person #1 – Good evening and welcome. What would y’all desire (desiderate)?
Person #2 – We need a table for four please.
Person #1 – Did you make a reservation (prenotazione)?
Person #2 – Yes, I called yesterday (ieri) and made a reservation? My name is Mr. Rossi.
Person #1 – I am sorry (mi dispiace), I did not see it. Do you know with whom (con cui) you spoke?
Person #2 – Stefano, he said that he wrote our name in the book.
Person #1 – Here it is! Your name, but I only see a reservation for two. Were four people included in this reservation?
Person #2 – Yes, four people were included, Did you read it correctly (correttamente)?
Person #3 – Y’all have discussed this enough (abastanza)! The restaurant is not full (pieno). Can we have a table for four please?
Person #2 – Yes, it is not a problem. Here is a table for four.
Person #1 – Have you been here before?
Person #3 – Yes, we were here last week? I drank the House Chianti.
Person #1 – Was it good? Did you like it?
Person #3 – Actually no, it was not good. I didn’t like it (non mi piaceva).
Person #1 – Really? What did you eat?
Person#3 – I ate the steak and potatoes, they ate the fish and pasta.
Person#1 – Was the food good?
Person#3 – No, the food had a bad flavor (sapore).
Person #1 – Why did you decide to bring us here?
Person #2 – I don’t know! We need to leave!
Person #1 – I agree. Let’s go!

printable class dialog

You can learn more about the Passato Prossimo on these pages of the following books.

73 - 75 & 77 - 79 of the book "English Grammar for Students of Italian" by Sergio Adorni and Karen Primorac, copyright 1995.
114 - 119 (page #'s may vary as I have an older edition) of "Ciao" by Carla Federici & Carla Larese Riga, copyright 1986.
124 - 131 of the book "Complete Italian Grammar" by Marcel Dansesi, copyright 1976.
249 - 257 of the book "Italian Grammar Drills" by Paola Nanni-Tate, copyright 2007.
50 -60 of the book "Italian Verb Drills" (Third Edition) by Paola Nanni-Tate, copyright 2011.

If you do not own these books, don't worry, it is not mandatory that you do unless you were instructed to buy them at the beginning of the class. However, they can be very useful in a lot of ways and if you would like to know more about these books and where to buy them, simply go to our online bookstore or quicker yet, just click on the appropriate book below.

Did you know?

" Campania is a region in south Italy, on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. The two islands of Capri and Ischia belong to the region of Campania as well. Its capital is Naples. Other cities include Mondragone, Caserta, Benevento, Avellino, Salerno, Sorrento and Agropoli.

Campania is bordered by Basilicata on the east, Apulia on the northeast, Molise on the north and Lazio on the northwest. The southwestern shores as washed by the Tyrrhenian Sea, including the Gulf of Naples and Gulf of Salerno.

The Apennine mountain chain runs through the Campania (Appennino Campano, Appennino Sannio, Irpinia, Cilento), the highest point of which is Monte Miletto at 2050 meters. Mount Vesuvius is is a volcano east of Naples. The most important river flowing through Campania is the Volturno."

This information about Lazio obtained from http://www.freeworldmaps.net/europe/italy/political.html

Have you heard?

Wow! Giorgia singing is awesome in itself but team her up with Eros and you hit is out of the park with a hit like this "inevitabile". Enjoy!

This and many other
great songs are available on --->

blog comments powered by Disqus