ITALIAN CL – 15TH CLASS

 Past Essere:

I was Ero
You were Eri
He / she / was Era
We were Eravamo
You(all) were Eravate
They were erano

 Avere (mainly used in Italian for past tense while speaking):

Avere (to have)
I have ho oh We have abbiamo ahb-bee-ah-mo

you have hai eye you have avete ah-veh-teh

he/she has ha ah they hanno ahn-noh

have

I had avevo we had avevamo

you had avevi you had avevate

he/she had aveva they had avevano

 How to make a past tense (passato prossimo) in Italian:

In English the simple past, not the perfect is used to say when exactly
something happened, for example, We met last summer; I ate it last night;
It rained a lot yesterday.

In Italian there are two ways of making the perfect tense:

the present tense of avere (meaning to have) followed by a past participle
the present tense of essere (meaning to be), followed by a past participle.

The Italian perfect tense is used to say:

what you’ve done at some time in the past.

Ho già visto quel film. I’ve already seen that film.

 Unlike in English, the Italian perfect tense is ALSO used to say what you did
at some particular time, or when exactly something happened.

Ho visto quel film sabato I saw that film last Saturday.

scorso.

Sono uscita con lui ieri sera. I went out with him last night.

È successo ieri. It happened yesterday.

Do not use the perfect tense to say since when, or how long you’ve been doing
something

How to make the past participle

The passato prossimo is one of several past tenses in Italian. It is the one you
will use most. It is used to describe actions that were completed in the past, such
as:

 I took the exam last Friday.

It can also be used to describe an action that began in the past but has not yet
been completed, such as:

 I have been to Italy three times in my life.

The passato prossimo is a compound tense, meaning it is made up of two
verbs. The first verb is a conjugated form of essere or avere. This verb is called
an auxiliary verb or helping verb, because it helps make clear the temporal
quality of the main verb. The second verb form is created by altering the main
verb describing the activity. It is known as the past participle of the main verb.
Here is an example:

Mario ha mangiato la pizza. Mario ate the pizza.

In this example, ha is the conjugated form of avere. In this case, you select
the lui/lei form of the verb (lui=he), because Mario is the subject of the
sentence, or the person who carried out the action (i.e. ate the pizza).
Following, mangiato is called the past participle of the main verb mangiare (to
eat).

Past participles are formed from the infinitive of the main verb by dropping
the are, –ere, or –ire and adding –ato, –uto, and –ito, respectively. For
example:

infinitive past participle

parlare parlato

credere Creduto

finire Finite

Forms:

The chart below lists forms of verbs in the passato prossimo, conjugated
with avere and essere. Consider the forms and the questions that follow.

parlare andare credere mettere capire

sono
Io ho parlato ho creduto ho messo ho capito
andato/a

hai sei hai

Tu hai messo hai capito
parlato andato/a creduto
 lui,lei,Le è
ha parlato ha creduto ha messo ha capito
i andato/a

abbiamo siamo abbiamo abbiamo abbiamo

Noi
parlato andati/e creduto messo capito

avete siete avete avete avete

Voi
parlato andati/e creduto messo capito

hanno sono hanno hanno hanno

Loro
parlato andati/e creduto messo capito

How to make the perfect tense with avere

To make the perfect tense with avere:

 choose the present tense form of avere that matches the subject of the
sentence.
 add the past participle. Do not change the ending of the participle to make
it agree with the subject.
 The perfect tense of parlare (meaning to speak) is as follows:

Present Past
tense of participle of Meaning
avere parlare

(io) ho parlato I spoke or have

spoken

(tu) hai parlato you spoke or have

spoken

(lui/lei) he/she spoke or has

(Lei) ha parlato spoken
you spoke or have
spoken

(noi) abbiamo parlato we spoke or have

spoken

(voi) avete parlato you spoke or have

 spoken

(loro) hanno parlato they spoke or have

spoken

Non gli ho mai parlato. I’ve never spoken to him.

Roberta gli ha parlato ieri. Roberta spoke to him yesterday.

When to make the perfect tense with avere

You use avere to make the perfect tense of most verbs.

Ho preso il treno delle dieci. I got the ten o’clock train.

L’hai messo in frigo? Have you put it in the fridge?

Perché l’hai fatto? Why did you do it?

Carlo ha speso più di me. Carlo spent more than me.

Abbiamo comprato una macchina. We’ve bought a car.

Dove avete parcheggiato? Where did you park?

Non hanno voluto aiutarmi. They didn’t want to help me.

 You do not use avere to make the perfect tense of:

 reflexive verbs
 certain verbs that do not take a direct object, such as andare (meaning to
go), venire (meaning to come) and diventare (meaning to become).

Verbs:
Infinito Tempo Forma
Andare Passato prossimo Sono andato/-a

aprire Passato prossimo Ho aperto

Avere Passato prossimo Ho avuto

Bere Passato prossimo Ho bevuto

Capire Passato prossimo Ho capito

Cercare Passato prossimo Ho cercato

Chiudere Passato prossimo Ho chiuso

Conoscere Passato prossimo Ho conosciuto

Dire Passato prossimo Ho detto

Dovere Passato prossimo Ho dovuto

Essere Passato prossimo Sono stato/-a

Fare Passato prossimo Ho fatto

Finire Passato prossimo Ho finite

Giocare Passato prossimo Ho giocato

Leggere Passato prossimo Ho letto

mettere Passato prossimo Ho messo

Pagare Passato prossimo Ho pagato

Piacere Passato prossimo (mi) `e piaciuto / -a; (mi) sono

piaciuti / -e
Potere Passato prossimo Ho potuto

Prendere Passato prossimo Ho preso

Rimanere Passato prossimo Sono rimasto / -a

Sapere Passato prossimo Ho Saputo

Scegliere Passato prossimo Ho scelto

Scrivere Passato prossimo Ho scritto

Stare Passato prossimo Sono stato / -a

Uscire Passato prossimo Sono uscito / -a

Vedere Passato prossimo Ho visto

Venire Passato prossimo sono venuto / -a

Volere Passato prossimo Ho volute

 How to make the perfect tense with essere

To make the perfect tense with essere:

 choose the present tense form of essere that matches the subject of the
sentence.
 add the past participle. Make the ending of the participle agree with the
subject.
 The perfect tense of andare (meaning to go) is as follows:

Present Past participle of

tense andare Meaning
of essere

(io) sono andato or andata I went or have

gone

(tu) sei andato or andata you went or have

gone

(lui) è andato he/it went or has

gone

(lei) è andata she/it went or has

gone

(Lei) è andato or andata you went or have

gone

(noi) siamo andati or andate we went or have

gone

(voi) siete andati or andate you went or have

gone

(loro sono andati or andate they went or have

) gone
 When to make the perfect tense with essere

 Use essere to make the perfect tense of certain verbs that do not take a direct
object.

È rimasta a casa tutto il She stayed at home all day.

giorno.

Siamo riusciti a convincerla. We managed to persuade her.

Sei mai stata a Bologna, Have you ever been to Bologna,

Tina? Tina?

Le tue amiche sono arrivate. Your friends have arrived.

Cos’è successo? What happened?

Below is a list of 30 common verbs which use essere as an auxillary:

andare to go
arrivare to arrive
Bastare to be enough
cadere to fall
capitare to happen
costare to cost
crollare to collapse
dimagrrire to lose weight
dipendere to depend
diventare to become
durare to last
entrare to enter
esistere to exist
essere to be
giungere to arrive
morire to die
nascere to be born
 partire to go away
piacere to like
provenire to come from
rimanere to stay
scadere to expire
sembrare to seem
sfuggire to escape
sparire to disappear
stare to stay
succedere to happen
tornare to return
uscire to go out
venire to come

 Use essere to make the perfect tense of all reflexive verbs.

I miei fratelli si sono My brothers got up late.

alzati tardi.

Le ragazze si sono alzate alle sei. The girls got up at six.