IL PASSATO PROSSIMO – THE PERFECT TENSE
 In Italian the perfect tense is the equivalent of the English perfect
tense, in that it tells you what HAS HAPPENED, where you
HAVE BEEN and so on.
 The Italian perfect tense is also the equivalent of the English
simple past in conversational Italian: it tells you what you DID,
what you ATE etc.
 In Italian the perfect tense refers to actions that happened in the
past ONCE. The perfect refers to one-off actions that are not
repeated through time. You cannot use the perfect tense to express
every single past action in Italian!
Formation
The perfect tense is a compound tense; it means that it is formed by two
words:
 The auxiliary verb (essere or avere ONLY)
 The past participle of the verb expressing the action (there are
many irregular verbs in the past participle, so check them up, DO
NOT GUESS THEM!)
With AVERE:
The majority of verbs take avere as their auxiliary verb:
Parlare
Ho parlato
Hai parlato
Ha parlato
Abbiamo parlato
Avete parlato
Hanno parlato
Vendere
ho venduto
hai venduto
ha venduto
abbiamo venduto
avete venduto
hanno venduto
Dormire
ho dormito
hai dormito
ha dormito
abbiamo dormito
avete dormito
hanno dormito
With ESSERE:
There are certain categories of verbs which require essere. Here is a list:
 Most intransitive verbs - verbs of movement or lack of
movement (andare, venire, rimanere)
- verbs of physical or emotional change
(impallidire, dimagrire)
 Most impersonal verbs - verbs like piovere and nevicare
- verbs which do not have a subject as
such (succedere, accadere)
 All reflexive verbs
ATTENZIONE:
Andare
Piovere
Vestirsi
Sono andato
Sono andata
è piovuto
mi sono vestito
mi sono vestita
Sei andato
Sei andata
ti sei vestito
ti sei vestita
Siamo andati
Siamo andate
ci siamo vestiti
ci siamo vestite
Sono andati
Sono andate
si sono vestiti
si sono vestite
What is the rule behind the agreement here? Can you work it out?
ALL VERBS TAKING ESSERE IN THE PERFECT TENSE MUST
SHOW THEIR AGREEMENT WITH THE SUBJECT OF THE
SENTENCE IN THE PAST PARTICIPLE.
FOR TODAY ONLY: no agreement is necessary for verbs taking avere
in the past participle (… YET!)