Passato Prossimo
Passato prossimo is the past tense. It’s to describe something that happened in the recent past. (It happened
one time and it’s over: I ate pizza, I drank soda, I ran in the park.)
The thing you have to remember is that it is a two word thing. In English we say ran, but in Italian you have
to say it in 2 words.
Step 1: Think about who you are talking about. Who did that action? It could be:
to
tu
lui/ lei/ someone’s name (John, Howe, Bob, Dawn, etc)
noi
voi
loro
Step 2: Choose essere or avere. This is the first word in forming the past tense. Avere is used with most
verbs. Essere is used with a few others. Essere is used with that are called transitive verbs… There are two
ways to remember these:
This is the casa di essere. So think of these as verbs that relate to this house:
Entrare- to enter- you enter the house
Salire- to go up- you go up the stairs in the house
Stare- to stay- you stay/stand at the top of the stair
Scendere- to descent- you go down the stairs
Cadere- to fall- you fall down the stairs
Uscire- to exit- you exit the house
Now picture there is a garden outside with flowers:
Morire: to die- some flowers die
Nascere- to be born- some flowers are born
diventare- to become- you become angry when you see the dead flowers
Partire- to depart- you leave the house
Andare- to go- you go to the store
(Ri)Tornare- to return- you return to the house
arrivare- you arrive at the front door again
So, any verbs that belong in the “Casa of Essere” use essere in the past tense.
All others use avere in the past tense.
It’s expected that you know the forms of essere and avere.
Essere: io sono, tu sei, lui/ lei è, noi siamo, voi siete, loro sono
Avere: io ho, tu hai, lui/ lei ha, noi abbiamo, voi avete, loro hanno
So, depending on what you are trying to say in the past (what action), and who did it, choose the right form
of essere or avere.
Step 3: Change the ending of your verb
If you have an –ARE verb, the ending changed to –ATO
-ERE
-UTO
-IRE
-ITO
SO, FOR EXAMPLE:
YOU ARRIVED AT SCHOOL.
Step 1: Who are you talking about here? Tu
Step 2: The action word is ARRIVARE, to arrive. Arrivare is part of the house of essere. So, you need the
TU form of ESSERE, which is sei
Step 3: Change the ending of ARRIVARE to –ATO: arrivato
Tu sei arrivato a scuola.
Hope this helps, if you want I can come meet you one day to go over in person, I don’t mind!