Sequencing with "dopo"
To talk about what happened after an action was completed, Italian uses dopo (after) followed by the past infinitive of the verb.
For verbs of motion—like salire (to get on) and scendere (to get off)—form the past infinitive with essere followed by the past participle.
Just like in other past tenses, when essere is the helper verb, the past participle must agree in gender and number with the subject (changing to -o, -a, -i, or -e).
| After getting off the ride I felt dizzy, so I sat down. | Dopo essere sceso dalla giostra avevo le vertigini, quindi mi sono seduto. |
| I was happy because, after getting off the Ferris wheel, I wasn't dizzy. | Ero felice perché, dopo essere scesa dalla ruota panoramica, non avevo le vertigini. |
| After getting on the ride, we laughed a lot. | Dopo essere saliti sulla giostra, abbiamo riso molto. |
Saying "before"
To say before doing something, use prima di.
Unlike dopo, prima di is simply followed by the infinitive.
| Before getting on, we have to buy tokens at the kiosk. | Prima di salire, dobbiamo comprare i gettoni al chiosco. |
Using "avere"
Most other verbs form their past infinitive with the helper verb avere.
When using avere in this pattern, drop its final -e to make aver. Because the helper verb is avere, the past participle does not change—it always ends in -o.
| After buying the tokens, we discovered the mistake. | Dopo aver comprato i gettoni, abbiamo scoperto lo sbaglio. |
| The boys laughed after seeing the ride. | I ragazzi hanno riso dopo aver visto la giostra. |
