Language/Italian/Grammar/Passato-Prossimo
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Passato Prossimo is a past tense in Italian that is widely used to describe actions or events that took place in the recent past or that were completed at a specific moment in the past. In this lesson, you will learn how to form and use Passato Prossimo.
Formation of Passato Prossimo
Passato Prossimo tense is a compound tense that is formed by combining a helping verb (avere or essere) with the past participle of the main verb. The choice of the helping verb depends on the main verb, as some verbs require “avere” while others require “essere”.
Here are the conjugations of the auxiliary verbs “avere” and “essere” in Passato Prossimo tense:
| Subject | Avere | Essere | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Io (I) | ho | sono | Tu (You) | hai | sei | Egli/Ella (He/She) | ha | è | Noi (We) | abbiamo | siamo | Voi (You all) | avete | siete | Essi/Esse (They) | hanno | sono |
To form the past participle of regular verbs, drop the infinitive endings (-are, -ere, -ire) and add the corresponding endings (-ato/-uto, -ato/-uto, -ito). However, irregular verbs have their own past participle forms, which have to be memorized.
Here are some examples of the formation of Passato Prossimo tense:
- Io ho mangiato una pizza (I ate a pizza)
- Loro sono arrivati tardi (They arrived late)
- Noi abbiamo guardato un film (We watched a movie)
Use of Passato Prossimo
Passato Prossimo tense is mainly used to indicate that something has happened, has been completed, or is no longer happening. It is also used to describe a single action that took place in the past or a series of consecutive actions that took place in the past.
Here are some examples of the use of Passato Prossimo tense:
- Ieri ho visto un bel film (Yesterday I watched a nice movie)
- Lei ha imparato l’italiano in due mesi (She learned Italian in two months)
- Abbiamo pulito la casa tutto il giorno (We cleaned the house all day)
Passato Prossimo is also used with adverbs of time to express actions that occurred at a specific time in the past. The adverb of time is usually placed at the beginning or the end of the sentence.
Here are some examples of the use of Passato Prossimo with adverbs of time:
- Ieri sera ho ballato tutta la notte (Last night I danced all night)
- La settimana scorsa ho visto il mio vecchio amico (Last week I saw my old friend)
- Stamattina ho preso il treno per Milano (This morning I took the train to Milan)
Irregular Past Participles
Some of the most common irregular past participles are listed in the table below:
| Infinitive | Past Participle | English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essere (To be) | Stato/a/i/e | Been | Avere (To have) | Avuto/a/i/e | Had | Bere (To drink) | Bevuto/a/i/e | Drunk | Fare (To do, make) | Fatto/a/i/e | Done, made | Dire (To say) | Detto/a/i/e | Said | Scrivere (To write) | Scritto/a/i/e | Written | Leggere (To read) | Letto/a/i/e | Read | Venire (To come) | Venuto/a/i/e | Come | Vedere (To see) | Visto/a/i/e | Seen | Capire (To understand) | Capito/a/i/e | Understood | Aprire (To open) | Aperto/a/i/e | Opened | Chiudere (To close) | Chiuso/a/i/e | Closed | Mettere (To put) | Messo/a/i/e | Put | Prendere (To take) | Preso/a/i/e | Taken | Spegnere (To turn off) | Spento/a/i/e | Turned off | Accendere (To turn on) | Accesso/a/i/e | Turned on |
Exercises
- Conjugate the following verbs in Passato Prossimo and provide an English translation:
- Leggere - Io ho letto un libro (I read a book)
- Vedere - Tu hai visto il film? (Did you watch the movie?)
- Mangiare - Loro hanno mangiato la pizza (They ate the pizza)
- Andare - Noi siamo andati in vacanza (We went on vacation)
- Scrivere - Io ho scritto una lettera al mio amico (I wrote a letter to my friend)
- Translate the following sentences into Italian using Passato Prossimo tense:
- I ate a sandwich for lunch yesterday
- She watched the sunset at the beach
- We visited the Colosseum in Rome last year
- They drank a lot of wine at the party
- He took the train to Venice in the afternoon
Sources