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### The passato prossimo

The **passato prossimo** is the most common past tense in Italian. It describes completed actions in the recent past (like "I worked" or "we have eaten"). It is built with a helping verb (usually **avere**) and a past participle.

Here is a quick review of the present tense of **avere** (to have):

| Subject | Form of avere |
|---|---|
| io | ho |
| tu | hai |
| lui / lei | ha |
| noi | abbiamo |
| voi | avete |
| loro | hanno |

### Forming regular past participles

To form a regular past participle, drop the infinitive ending (**-are**, **-ere**, or **-ire**) and add a new ending:

- **-are** verbs take **-ato** (*lavorare* → *lavorato*)
- **-ere** verbs take **-uto** (*ricevere* → *ricevuto*)
- **-ire** verbs take **-ito** (*dormire* → *dormito*)

When a verb uses **avere** as its helper, the past participle always ends in **-o** regardless of the subject.

You will often use this tense with time markers like **ieri** (yesterday) and **stamattina** (this morning):

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### Expressing "last" or "previous"

To say "last week" or "last month", use the adjective **scorso**. Like all adjectives, it must agree with the noun it describes (masculine *il mese scorso*, feminine *la settimana scorsa*).

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### Making it negative

To make a sentence negative, place **non** right before the helping verb.

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### Using adverbs: già, appena, and mai

Words like **già** (already), **appena** (just), and **mai** (ever/never) usually go right between the helping verb and the past participle.

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To say that you have "never" done something, use a double negative: put **non** before the helping verb and **mai** before the past participle.

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The passato prossimo with avere (ho parlato)

adjective

adjective/adverb

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

preposition

pronoun

proper noun

sentence

verb

Definite articles and gender (il, la, l')

Indefinite articles (un, una)

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)

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

Past tense of modal verbs

Question	Answer
yesterday	ieri
the day before yesterday	l'altro ieri
Yesterday I worked a lot.	Ieri ho lavorato molto.
Yesterday we ate the pizza.	Ieri abbiamo mangiato la pizza.
this morning	stamattina
tonight (this night); last night	stanotte
This morning I slept well.	Stamattina ho dormito bene.
They didn't study this morning.	Loro non hanno studiato stamattina.
last / previous	scorso
Last month I sold the car.	Il mese scorso ho venduto la macchina.
My brothers traveled last week.	I miei fratelli hanno viaggiato la settimana scorsa.
to telephone	telefonare
Yesterday I called Marco.	Ieri ho telefonato a Marco.
This morning she called her friend.	Stamattina ha telefonato alla sua amica.
the message	il messaggio
Yesterday I received a message.	Ieri ho ricevuto un messaggio.
We understood this message.	Abbiamo capito questo messaggio.
to organize	organizzare
They organized a party last week.	Hanno organizzato una festa la settimana scorsa.
I organized the trip this morning.	Ho organizzato il viaggio stamattina.
to greet	salutare
I greeted the professor.	Ho salutato il professore.
Yesterday we greeted our neighbors.	Ieri abbiamo salutato i nostri vicini.
already	già
I have already eaten this cheese.	Ho già mangiato questo formaggio.
They have already cleaned this room.	Hanno già pulito questa stanza.
just	appena
I have just finished the work.	Ho appena finito il lavoro.
We have just called the doctor.	Abbiamo appena telefonato al medico.
ever / never	mai
I have never visited England.	Non ho mai visitato l'Inghilterra.
She has never watched this movie.	Non ha mai guardato questo film.
the email (= l'email)	la mail
I wrote an email to the manager.	Ho scritto una mail al direttore.
I read the email on my phone.	Leggo la mail sul cellulare.
Did you receive my email?	Hai ricevuto la mia mail?
Last night I slept badly.	Stanotte ho dormito male.
Tonight the child is not sleeping.	Stanotte il bambino non dorme.
The day before yesterday I phoned my grandmother.	L'altro ieri ho telefonato a mia nonna.
I bought this book the day before yesterday.	Ho comprato questo libro l'altro ieri.

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