Auxiliary Verbs: Summary Reference

This page is a single-page reference for the most consequential decision in the Italian compound-tense system: whether a given verb takes essere or avere as its auxiliary. The choice is not stylistic — it is grammatical, it is fixed for each verb (with rare meaningful alternations), and it has cascading consequences: participle agreement, the form of the perfect, and the meaning itself in a handful of "ambiguous auxiliary" verbs whose meaning shifts with the choice.

The good news is that roughly 80% of Italian verbs take avere. The verbs that take essere fall into a small number of semantic classes that are easy to memorise. The hard cases — about thirty verbs — are listed in their own section with a diagnostic for each.

This is a reference page, not a paradigm. Use it to look up a verb you're unsure about. The deeper treatment of why essere vs avere works the way it does lives in Auxiliary Selection: Essere vs Avere.

Section 1 — Verbs that take essere

The essere-verbs cluster into six semantic groups. Memorise the groups, not the individual verbs: once you internalise the pattern, you can predict the auxiliary for any new verb that fits the schema.

1.1 Motion to a destination

These verbs describe a change of location — the subject ends up somewhere different from where they started. Pure activity verbs (walking, swimming, running for exercise) are not in this group; they take avere.

* salire and scendere have transitive meanings ("to climb something," "to go down something") that take avere. See section 3.

1.2 Change of state

Verbs whose subject becomes something different — born, dead, older, sicker, healthier, asleep, awake. The subject undergoes a transformation; nothing is being acted upon.

* crescere takes essere when intransitive ("to grow up, increase"), but avere when transitive ("to raise children/animals"). See section 3.

1.3 Existence and stability

Verbs of being, staying, lasting, seeming. The subject simply is somewhere or exists in some way — no agency.

1.4 Reflexive and reciprocal verbs (always essere)

This rule is absolute: any verb conjugated with the reflexive pronouns mi, ti, si, ci, vi, si takes essere, every time, no exceptions. This includes:

• True reflexives: lavarsi (to wash oneself), vestirsi (to get dressed), alzarsi (to get up), sedersi (to sit down), svegliarsi (to wake up), chiamarsi (to be called), chiedersi (to ask oneself), trovarsi (to find oneself).
• Reciprocals: incontrarsi (to meet each other), vedersi (to see each other), scriversi (to write to each other), abbracciarsi (to hug each other), baciarsi (to kiss each other).
• Inherently pronominal verbs: arrabbiarsi (to get angry), annoiarsi (to get bored), divertirsi (to enjoy oneself), accorgersi (to notice), pentirsi (to regret), lamentarsi (to complain), fidarsi (to trust), vergognarsi (to be ashamed).

Even verbs that take avere in their non-reflexive form switch to essere the moment they become reflexive: ho lavato la macchina (avere — I washed the car) → mi sono lavato (essere — I washed myself).

1.5 Weather verbs (variable, with regional preference)

The verbs piovere, nevicare, grandinare, tuonare, lampeggiare historically take essere in standard Italian, but avere is widely accepted and increasingly common in everyday speech. Both are correct.

Regional tendency: northern speakers lean toward essere, southern speakers and Tuscan tradition often prefer avere. The Accademia della Crusca treats both as standard.

1.6 Impersonal and "happening" verbs

Verbs that describe events befalling someone, or impersonal occurrences. Most take essere, though a few are flexible.

* mancare is flexible: see section 3.

Section 2 — Verbs that take avere

The avere-verbs are the default. If a verb is transitive (takes a direct object), it almost always takes avere. If it is intransitive but describes an activity (rather than a change of location or state), it also takes avere.

2.1 Transitive verbs (almost all)

Any verb that takes a direct object takes avere. This is by far the largest class.

Parlare is borderline: it can be transitive when it takes a language as object (parlare italiano) and intransitive in the dative pattern parlare a qualcuno. In both uses it takes avere, so it is listed in the activity-verb table below.

2.2 Intransitive activity verbs

Verbs that describe an activity or process but don't take an object still take avere if their meaning is "doing something" rather than "going somewhere" or "becoming something."

The key distinction: camminare (walking as an activity) takes avere, but andare (going to a place) takes essere. Ho camminato per due ore ("I walked for two hours" — activity) vs Sono andato al parco ("I went to the park" — destination).

Section 3 — Verbs with ambiguous auxiliary

These are the verbs that change auxiliary depending on meaning or syntax. Each one is a frequent learner trap, so each needs a diagnostic question.

3.1 correre — "to run"

• essere when the meaning is directional (running to a place).
• avere when the meaning is activity (running as exercise or for a duration).

3.2 scendere — "to go down, descend"

• essere when intransitive ("to come/go down").
• avere when transitive, with a direct object ("to go down something").

3.3 salire — "to go up, climb"

• essere when intransitive.
• avere when transitive ("to climb something").

3.4 cambiare — "to change"

• essere when the meaning is "to change into something else, to become different" (intransitive, no object).
• avere when the meaning is "to change something" (transitive, with object).

3.5 finire — "to finish, end"

• essere when intransitive ("to come to an end").
• avere when transitive ("to finish something").

3.6 cominciare / iniziare — "to start, begin"

• essere when intransitive ("to begin, get under way").
• avere when transitive ("to start something").

3.7 vivere — "to live"

Both auxiliaries are accepted. Essere is preferred in standard Italian, especially with a place complement; avere is acceptable, especially with a duration.

3.8 mancare — "to be missing, to miss, to lack"

• essere when the meaning is "to be missing/absent" or in the piacere-construction "to be missed by someone."
• avere when transitive, in the meaning "to fail to do" or "to miss" with an object (rare in modern usage).

3.9 crescere — "to grow"

• essere when intransitive ("to grow up, increase, develop").
• avere when transitive ("to raise children, animals, plants").

3.10 piovere / nevicare — weather

Both auxiliaries are accepted. Essere is the traditional norm; avere is widely used. Regional preference: northern speakers tend toward essere, southern speakers and many Tuscans toward avere.

Section 4 — The diagnostic question

When you encounter a verb whose auxiliary you don't know, ask yourself:

Does the verb describe a change of state or a motion to a destination, with no object? → essere.

Does the verb describe an action with an object, or a pure activity without a destination? → avere.

This single question handles roughly 95% of cases. The remaining 5% are the ambiguous-auxiliary verbs in Section 3 — and those each have their own diagnostic ("transitive vs intransitive," "directional vs activity").

A second sanity check, equally useful: try replacing the verb with a synonym from a clear class.

• If the verb feels like a synonym of andare or diventare, it's probably essere.
• If the verb feels like a synonym of fare or vedere, it's probably avere.

Section 5 — Common pitfalls

Pitfall 1: forgetting that reflexives always take essere

This is the single most common error. Even verbs that take avere in their non-reflexive form switch to essere the moment a reflexive pronoun appears.

Pitfall 2: treating camminare, viaggiare, nuotare as motion verbs

These describe activities, not destinations. They take avere, not essere.

Pitfall 3: forgetting auxiliary alternation in correre, scendere, salire, finire, cominciare, cambiare, crescere

The same verb can take either auxiliary depending on whether it's used transitively or directionally. Match the auxiliary to the meaning.

Pitfall 4: confusing piacere-type verbs

Verbs like piacere, mancare, servire, bastare, dispiacere, importare behave like gustar in Spanish — the grammatical subject is what English calls the object. They all take essere, and the participle agrees with the grammatical subject (the thing liked/missed/needed), not with the experiencer.

Pitfall 5: weather verbs

Both auxiliaries are correct, but learners often hyper-correct one or the other. Pick a region's preference and stay consistent.

Pitfall 6: nascere and morire

Both take essere, and the participle agrees with the subject. Learners sometimes treat morire as transitive (as if dying were something you "do"), but it isn't.

Quick lookup: the most-used essere verbs

If you remember only fifteen verbs that take essere, make it these — they account for the vast majority of essere uses in everyday Italian:

andare, venire, arrivare, partire, tornare, entrare, uscire, salire, scendere, cadere, nascere, morire, diventare, restare, rimanere — plus all reflexives and all of the piacere family.

Everything else, by default, takes avere.

Cross-references

For the deeper treatment of why essere vs avere works the way it does — including the historical reason auxiliaries split this way and the participle-agreement consequences — see Auxiliary Selection: Essere vs Avere. For the verbs that genuinely change meaning depending on auxiliary, see Ambiguous Auxiliary Verbs. For the rules of participle agreement once you've chosen the auxiliary, see Participle Agreement. For the reflexive system as a whole, see Reflexive Verbs Overview.