To talk about everyday routines or actions you did to yourself in the past, use the passato prossimo. All reflexive verbs use essere as their helping verb.
Word order and agreement
To form the past tense of a reflexive verb, you need three pieces in this exact order:
- The reflexive pronoun (mi, ti, si, ci, vi, si)
- The helping verb essere
- The past participle
Because the helping verb is essere, the past participle must agree with the subject in gender and number.
| Pronoun | Essere | Past Participle (e.g., truccarsi) |
|---|---|---|
| mi | sono | truccato / truccata |
| ti | sei | truccato / truccata |
| si | è | truccato / truccata |
| ci | siamo | truccati / truccate |
| vi | siete | truccati / truccate |
| si | sono | truccati / truccate |
| Maria put on makeup this morning. | Maria si è truccata stamattina. |
| Yesterday I combed my hair. | Ieri mi sono pettinato. |
| You didn't put on makeup and you didn't comb your hair. | Non ti sei truccata e non ti sei pettinata. |
Plural subjects
Like all verbs that take essere, the past participle ends in -i for masculine or mixed groups, and -e for entirely feminine groups.
| We sat down on the bench in the park. | Ci siamo seduti sulla panchina nel parco. |
| The women hurried up for the concert. | Le donne si sono sbrigate per il concerto. |
Emotions and changes of state
Many emotional reactions and changes of state are reflexive in Italian, such as "to have fun" (divertirsi), "to get scared" (spaventarsi), or "to get married" (sposarsi). They follow the exact same rules.
| We had a lot of fun at the party. | Ci siamo divertiti molto alla festa. |
| The dog got scared and I got angry. | Il cane si è spaventato e io mi sono arrabbiato. |
| My parents got married in Milan. | I miei genitori si sono sposati a Milano. |
Body parts
When washing or grooming body parts, use a reflexive verb and a definite article (il, i, la, le) instead of a possessive word like "my" or "his". The verb remains reflexive and still requires essere.
| I combed my hair this morning. | Stamattina mi sono pettinato i capelli. |
| Luca washed his hair yesterday. | Ieri Luca si è lavato i capelli. |
