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### Manner of Motion: Activity vs. Destination

In Italian, verbs that describe a manner of motion—such as **correre** (to run), **saltare** (to jump), and **volare** (to fly)—have a special rule for compound tenses. They can take either **avere** or **essere** as their auxiliary verb, depending on the context.

When the focus is on the pure physical activity itself, its duration, or how it was performed, use **avere**.

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However, when the movement is directed toward a specific destination—such as rushing to the hospital during an emergency or heading to a specific spot—these verbs take **essere**. The action is no longer just a physical activity, but a change of location. 

As always when using **essere**, remember that the past participle must agree with the subject in gender and number.

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### Transitive Motion

Keep in mind that if a motion verb takes a direct object (meaning someone is running or jumping *over* something specific), it acts as a transitive verb and must always use **avere**. 

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Often, you will see both rules in action within the same sentence. If a subject jumps *over* an obstacle (transitive) and then runs *to* a destination (directed motion), the auxiliary shifts accordingly from **avere** to **essere**.

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Auxiliaries with verbs of motion (avere vs. essere)

adjective

adjective/adverb

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

preposition

pronoun

proper noun

sentence

verb

Subject pronouns and the verb to be (io sono)

Singular definite articles (il, la)

Singular demonstratives (questo, questa)

Basic verbal negation (non)

Yes/No questions

Coordinating conjunctions (e, ma, o)

Regular plurals and definite articles (-i, -e, i, le)

Plural verb to be (noi siamo, voi siete)

Plural demonstratives (questi, queste)

Nouns ending in -e

Special singular articles (lo, l')

The plural article (gli)

Special indefinite articles (uno, un')

Demonstrative adjectives (quello, quella)

Adjective endings (-o, -a, -i, -e)

Expressing quantity (molto, poco, tanto)

The verb to have (ho, hai, ha...)

There is / there are (c'è, ci sono)

The preposition of (di)

Singular possessives (il mio, la mia)

Numbers 1 to 10 (uno, due, tre...)

Numbers 11 to 20 (undici, dodici...)

Numbers 21 to 100 (trenta, quaranta...)

Idiomatic avere (avere fame, avere anni)

Plural possessive adjectives (i miei, le mie)

Possessives with family members (mio padre)

Formal address (dare del Lei)

Present tense of -are verbs (-o, -i, -a)

Question words (chi, cosa, dove)

Present tense of -ere verbs (-o, -i, -e)

Question words (quando, come, perché)

Question word agreement (quanto, quanta, quanti, quante)

Regular -ire verbs

Verbs with -isc- (capisco, capisci, capisce)

Pronouns after prepositions (me, te, lui)

The verb fare (faccio, fai, fa)

The verb andare (vado, vai, va)

The verb stare (sto, stai, sta)

The verb venire (vengo, vieni, viene)

The verb uscire (esco, esci, esce)

Location and destination (a, in)

Origin and movement (da)

Articulated prepositions with a (al, alla)

Articulated prepositions with in (nel, nella)

Articulated prepositions with di and da (del, dal)

Simple prepositions (con, per, su, tra)

Articulated prepositions with su (sul, sulla)

Months of the year

Telling time (sono le...)

Dates (il + number)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (primo, secondo, terzo...)

The verb to want (volere)

The verb can (potere)

The verb must (dovere)

The verb to know (sapere)

Reflexive verbs (mi lavo, ti lavi)

Indirect object pronouns (gli, le, ci...)

Expressing preferences (mi piace)

Plural preferences (mi piacciono)

Comparatives (più... di, meno... di)

The passato prossimo with avere (ho parlato)

Irregular past participles (fatto, letto, preso)

The passato prossimo with essere (sono andato)

Reflexive verbs in the past (mi sono svegliato)

Time adverbs with the past tense (già, mai, ancora)

Third-person direct object pronouns (lo, la, li, le)

First and second-person direct object pronouns (mi, ti, ci, vi)

The four seasons

Prepositions of place (vicino a, davanti a)

Conversational words (beh, allora, davvero)

Indefinite adjectives for some (qualche, alcuni)

Indefinite adjectives for every and all (ogni, tutti)

Indefinite pronouns (qualcosa, qualcuno)

Noun suffixes (-ino, -one)

Adverbs of manner (-mente)

Comparisons of equality (così... come)

The relative superlative (il più)

The absolute superlative (-issimo)

Irregular comparatives (migliore, peggiore)

Present progressive (stare + -ando, -endo)

Imminent actions (stare per)

The locative pronoun (ci)

The partitive pronoun (ne)

Pronoun placement with modal verbs

Impersonal subjects (si)

Prepositions of time (da, per, tra, fra)

Past participle agreement with pronouns

Question	Answer
athletics	l'atletica
The boys ran for an hour on the athletics track.	I ragazzi hanno corso per un'ora sulla pista di atletica.
to bleed	sanguinare
breathless	affannato
The men were bleeding, so we ran to the hospital breathless.	Gli uomini sanguinavano, quindi siamo corsi all'ospedale affannati.
puddle	la pozzanghera
The child jumped in the puddles more than I thought.	Il bambino ha saltato nelle pozzanghere più di quanto pensassi.
lifeguard	il bagnino
rescue	il salvataggio
The lifeguard jumped into the sea for the rescue.	Il bagnino è saltato in mare per il salvataggio.
eagle	l'aquila
The eagle flew in the sky without a destination.	L'aquila ha volato nel cielo senza una meta.
nest	il nido
The eagle flew to the nest.	L'aquila è volata al nido.
hedge	la siepe
We jumped the hedge to escape.	Abbiamo saltato la siepe per scappare.
My arms were bleeding, so I ran to the doctor.	Le mie braccia sanguinavano, così sono corso dal medico.
If it were an emergency, the lifeguard would run to the beach for the rescue.	Se fosse un'emergenza, il bagnino correrebbe in spiaggia per il salvataggio.
The dog jumped the hedge and then ran into the puddle.	Il cane ha saltato la siepe e poi è corso nella pozzanghera.
The frightened bird flew to the nest.	L'uccello spaventato è volato al nido.
stopwatch	il cronometro
For athletics, I ran with the stopwatch.	Per l'atletica, ho corso con il cronometro.
The breathless boy ran home for the stopwatch.	Il ragazzo affannato è corso a casa per il cronometro.