Learn Italian: Ieri ho ricevuto un messaggio. - Yesterday I received a message.

In Italian, the past tense used for everyday events (passato prossimo) is built with two words, similar to "I have received" in English. You use the helper verb ho (I have) followed by the past participle ricevuto (received).

How do we get the form ricevuto from the dictionary verb ricevere?

Ricevere (to receive) is a regular verb ending in -ere. To form the past participle for regular -ere verbs, you drop the -ere and add -uto. That gives us ricevuto.

Why doesn't the sentence say io ho ricevuto for "I received"?

In Italian, the subject pronoun io (I) is usually dropped because the verb ho already tells us exactly who is doing the action. Including io isn't grammatically wrong, but native speakers usually leave it out unless they want to add special emphasis.

Can I put the word ieri at the end of the sentence?

Yes, Italian word order is quite flexible with time words. You can perfectly well say Ho ricevuto un messaggio ieri. Putting ieri at the beginning, as in this sentence, just puts a little more focus on the fact that it happened yesterday.