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Ho salutato il professore.

Ho salutato il professore.
I greeted the professor.
From Lesson 68:The passato prossimo with avere (ho parlato)·Italian

Breakdown of Ho salutato il professore.

avere
to have
il professore
the professor
salutare
to greet

Questions & Answers about Ho salutato il professore.

How is the past tense "I greeted" formed in this sentence?
This is the passato prossimo (the recent past tense). To say "I greeted", you need two parts: the helper verb ho (I have) and the past participle of the verb salutare (to greet). For regular verbs ending in -are, you drop the -are and add -ato to get salutato. So, ho salutato literally translates to "I have greeted."
Why is there no word for "I" at the beginning of the sentence?
In Italian, subject pronouns like io (I) are usually left out. The helper verb ho already tells us exactly who is doing the action because it specifically means "I have". You would only say io ho salutato if you wanted to strongly emphasize that you did it, as opposed to someone else.
Does salutare only mean "to greet"?
Salutare is a very versatile verb! Here it means "to greet" or "to say hello to", but it is also used for "to say goodbye to". It comes from the same root as salute (health), because greeting someone traditionally meant wishing them good health.
Does il professore specifically mean a university professor?
It can, but it is much broader than the English word. In Italian, professore (and the feminine professoressa) is used for middle school, high school, and university teachers. If you are talking about a primary school teacher, you would use maestro or maestra instead.

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