Where grammar ends, great art begins

Ernesto Sábato

As I always say, the most important aspect of language learning is effective communication. This means that you can use all the resources at your disposal to successfully complete the communicative exchange. It is not important to be grammatically accurate or to remember all terms perfectly; it is also permissible to use a mix of words from the target language and another language.

The most important thing is to make yourself understood by your interlocutor.

Obviously, if we are talking about having to use the language for academic/work reasons or having to pass an exam, this reasoning does not apply.

If you’re here, chances are you’re a fan of the Italian language—or perhaps you’re gearing up to ace an Italian language exam.

In any case, whatever brought you here, I’m here to provide you with all the answers you need.

The Passato Prossimo Unveiled: A Clear Guide for Italian Learners

We use passato prossimo to talk about past events/actions/conditions. Specifically:

• An action from the past that is concluded, finished: Ieri sera ho mangiato un panino. / La settimana scorsa siamo andati al cinema.

Passato Prossimo: a compound verb tense

The passato prossimo is a ‘tempo composto’. This means that more than one word is involved:

• A ‘helping verb‘, conjugated in the present tense (ho mangiato);
• the past participle of another verb (ho mangiato).

The auxiliary verb can be avere or essere. Later we will see in detail which verbs want the auxiliary verb ‘to have’ and which ‘to be’.

But first let’s talk about past participle rules of regular verbs.

Past participle: How to form (Regular Verbs)

Passato Prossimo with Avere

Passato Prossimo with Essere

As you may have noticed, when we have the auxiliary verb ‘essere’, the past participle agrees, by gender and number, with the subject of the sentence.

Let’s see a few examples:

Singular – Masculine and Feminine

• (Man speaking) Sono andato al cinema la settimana scorsa. [io]
• (Woman speaking) Sono andata al cinema la settimana scorsa. [io]
• Paolo, sei uscito ieri sera? [tu]
• Maria, sei uscita ieri sera? [tu]
• Paolo è tornato tardi ieri sera. [lui]
• Maria è tornata tardi ieri sera. [lei]

Plural – Masculine and Feminine

• (Men / Men and Women speaking) Siamo andati al cinema la settimana scorsa. [noi]
• (Women speaking) Siamo andate al cinema la settimana scorsa. [noi]
• Ragazzi, siete usciti ieri sera? [voi]
• Ragazze, siete uscite ieri sera? [voi]
• Paolo e Matteo sono tornati tardi ieri sera. [loro]
• Maria e Lucia sono tornate tardi ieri sera. [loro]

Passato Prossimo: Essere or Avere?

To be, or not to be … No, just kidding!

Unfortunately, as you may know, wherever there are rules, we also have many of exceptions!

But do not worry! I am going to provide you with many examples and common exceptional cases.

First things first, let’s start with the rules.

Passato Prossimo: When to Use Essere (with List of Verbs)

We use the auxiliary ‘to be‘ with:

• the verb ‘to be‘ 🤓​. The verb essere is, of course, irregular. The past participle is ‘stato/a, stati/e‘. (“Ieri sono stata in montagna”).
• Many verbs of motion: ‘andare‘, ‘venire‘, ‘tornare‘, ‘uscire‘, ‘partire‘, ‘arrivare‘. (“Il treno è partito in ritardo”).
• The ‘stato in luogo‘ verbs: ‘stare‘, ‘restare‘, ‘rimanere‘. (“Ieri siamo rimasti a casa”).
• Many intransitive verbs (which have no direct object, only an indirect one): ‘piacere‘, ‘diventare‘, ‘nascere‘, ‘morire‘, ‘sembrare‘, succedere‘, ‘accadere‘. (“Ti è piaciuto il film?”; “Siamo nate nel 1992″).
• Reflexive verbs: ‘svegliarsi’, ‘alzarsi’, ‘lavarsi’, ‘vestirsi’. (“Stamattina Anna e Marco si sono svegliati alle 8″).

Passato Prossimo: When to Use Avere (with List of Verbs)

We use the auxiliary ‘to have‘ with:

• the verb ‘to have‘ 🤓​. (“Ieri ho avuto la febbre”).
• Transitive verbs (which have a direct object and answer the question who? what?): ‘fare‘ (sport), ‘mangiare‘ (una pizza), ‘finire‘ (un esercizio), ‘chiamare‘ (un amico). (“Hai fatto colazione?”; Cosa avete mangiato a pranzo?”).
• Some intransitive verbs: ‘dormire’, ‘viaggiare’, ‘camminare’, ‘passeggiare’, ‘piangere’, ‘ridere’. (“Ho dormito poco”; Luca ha viaggiato molto l’anno scorso”).

Verbs with either Essere or Avere (with List of Verbs)

There are a few verbs that in ‘compound’ tenses can be constructed either with the auxiliary verb ‘to be’ or ‘to have’.

We use the auxiliary ‘to be’ or ‘to have’ with:

1. atmospheric verbs: ‘piovere’, ‘nevicare’. It is the same if we say “È piovuto” or “Ha piovuto“.
2. Verbs that can be both transitive and intransitive: ‘cambiare‘, ‘iniziare‘, ‘cominciare‘, ‘finire‘, ‘passare‘, ‘salire‘, ‘scendere‘, etc. (“Marta ha cambiato cellulare” –> What did Marta change? ‘The mobile phone’ is the direct object of ‘cambiare‘ which here is a transitive verb. / “Marta è cambiata molto ultimamente” –> Here ‘cambiare‘ is an intransitive verb because the object complement is missing, we only have the subject, Marta: she is the one who is different from before.

Let’s see more examples of the second case:

• Il film è iniziato/cominciato da 5 minuti.
• Marta ha iniziato/cominciato a studiare per l’esame una settimana fa.
• Il film è finito dieci minuti fa.
• Marta ha finito di lavorare alle 18.
• Marco è passato a trovarci!
• Marco ha passato una bella serata!
• Luca è salito/sceso al terzo piano.
• Luca ha salito/sceso le scale velocemente.

Particular cases

* CORRERE: In the first case (Siamo corsi subito a casa), the verb run indicates the action of moving quickly to reach a destination. In the second case (Abbiamo corso per un km), the verb run simply indicates the action of running.

* INTERESSARE: In the first case (… è interessato … agli studiosi), the verb interest is intransitive. The possible meanings in this case are ‘to import’, ‘to care’. In the second case (… ha interessato … gli studiosi) the verb is transitive and the meanings are ‘involve by arousing interest’, ‘concern, regard’.

* VIVERE: The Treccani Italian Grammar tells us that ‘in the compound tenses the verb vivere can be used either with the auxiliary to be or with the auxiliary to have (which seems to be the one most used in contemporary Italian)’. However, the verb to live can be transitive, even if with a few objects: life, experience, situation, etc. In these cases, of course, the auxiliary to be used is to have. It can also be used in an absolute way: ‘Paolo ha vissuto’, in the sense of ‘having an intense life’. Also in this case the auxiliary is to have. More frequently, however, this verb is used as a common intransitive. The rule would be to use the auxiliary be in these cases (Galileo Galilei è vissuto…).

* VOLARE: Volare involves the auxiliary to be if used only in the value ‘hovering in the air’ of light objects such as feathers (or even tickets but ‘in the air’ and not ‘aboard an aircraft’) or ‘being thrown at a distance’, e.g. of projectiles or arrows. In the value of ‘moving through the air by means of an action’, said of winged animals or even aircraft, personnel travelling on them or passengers, the auxiliary is to have (Le rondini hanno volato per molti km).

Essere o Avere with Modal Verbs

Italian modal verbs are potere, volere, dovere. Modal verbs are followed by an infinitive verb, e.g. ‘Posso entrare?’, ‘Vogliamo mangiare una pizza?’, ‘Devi fare silenzio!’.

The choice of the auxiliary verb depends on the infinitive verb following the modal verb. Let’s give a few examples right away:

• ‘Non sono potuto andare alla festa’ ➡️ Andare (motion verb) wants the auxiliary verb to be! (e.g. Non sono andato alla festa).
• ‘Non ho potuto fare nulla per aiutarla’ ➡️ Fare wants the auxiliary verb to have! (e.g. Non ho fatto nulla).
• ‘Non siamo voluti uscire con loro’ ➡️ Uscire wants the auxiliary verb to be! (e.g. Non siamo usciti con loro).
• ‘Abbiamo voluto partecipare anche noi’ ➡️ Partecipare wants the auxiliary verb to have! (e.g. Abbiamo partecipato anche noi).
• ‘Sono dovuti tornare subito a casa’ ➡️ Tornare wants the auxiliary verb to be! (e.g. Sono tornati subito a casa).
• ‘Hanno dovuto ripetere l’esame’ ➡️ Ripetere wants the auxiliary verb to have! (e.g. Hanno ripetuto l’esame).

Irregular Past Participles – List