The Ultimate Guide To The Italian Passato Prossimo

When you learn Italian, you have to tackle different verb tenses, like Italian Passato prossimo, also known as perfetto composto.

This tense refers to the recent past — think of prossimo not in the context of “next” in Italian but as a relative to the English word “proximity.” 

Being able to talk about the past in Italian is essential for fluency. Whether you want to chat to Italian friends about what you got up to yesterday or what you did last weekend, the Italian passato prossimo will come in handy.

So, get ready to boost your Italian communication skills fast with the Italian passato prossimo!

By the way, if you want to learn Italian fast and have fun while doing it, my top recommendation is Italian Uncovered which teaches you through StoryLearning®. 

If you’re ready to start, click here for a 7-day FREE trial.

What Is The Italian Passato Prossimo?

The Italian passato prossimo is the most frequently used past tense in the Italian language that would, in English, translate to the present perfect. And that’s a little confusing, because in English, there is a simple past tense (I did) and a present perfect (I have done).

In Italian, both of these are called the passato prossimo, even though only one of them looks similar. But don’t mind all this for now.

You use the passato prossimo when it’s unimportant to say how long ago something was exactly, or how long it lasted, just that it has happened, and that it happened relatively recently.

“Yesterday I went to see my grandmother” would, by definition, be passato prossimo, while “Columbus discovered America in 1492” would be passato remoto, a whole different story (that you don't need to worry about for now).

So then, let’s get down to business. The Italian passato prossimo is something known as a compound tense, which means that it’s made up of two verbs.

The first of the two is some form of either essere (to be) or avere (to have). These are called auxiliary verbs, because they are there to support the main act, which is created by making a past participle of a verb. 

This means that to learn how to form the Italian passato prossimo, you need to be familiar with the conjugations of avere and essere. Because to do so, you drop the endings -are, -ere, -ire, and substitute -ato, -uto or -ito. 

Here’s a little recap on the conjugation of essere and avere, just in case: 

You can then, as mentioned, make what’s called the Italian participio passato from regular verbs by removing the usual ending and tacking on one of these: 

• -are becomes -ato (e.g. stare/stato)
• -ere becomes -uto (e.g. avere/avuto)
• -ire becomes -ito (e.g. dormire/dormito)

In the case of avere, it will look like this: 

• io ho avuto (I [have] had)
• tu hai avuto (you [have] had)
• lui/lei/Lei ha avuto (he/she [has] had)
• noi abbiamo avuto  (we [have] had)
• voi avete avuto  (you [pl.] [have] had)
• loro hanno avuto  (they [have] had)

How To Choose Between Avere Or Essere?

So when talking about the past,  you’ll need to use either avere or essere. But how will you know which one? 

First of all, just know that it sounds harder to get your head around than it really is. The majority of verbs use avere, just like in English (I have studied), because if there is a subject, the passato prossimo form of avere (to have) is the one that makes sense.

Meaning words like mangiare, chiamare, scrivere — those that you wouldn’t use alone, need avere. The way to make sure you’re using the correct word here is by asking what or whom — if you can answer it with a subject, avere is the way to go. 

• Alessia ha mangiato un panino. (Alessia ate [has eaten] a sandwich.)

• Dario ha bevuto una birra. (Dario drank a beer.)

• Io e le Laura abbiamo cenato insieme. (Laura and I had dinner together.)

• Loro hanno mangiato una pizza. (They ate a pizza)

Easy enough, right? Things get a little trickier when there isn’t a subject. 

When To Use Italian Passato Prossimo With Essere

Essere is used in cases where the verb indicates that there’s some sort of change, or movement: of location, for example, or of a situation.

This is the case for verbs like: andare, venire, partire, arrivare, succedere, diventare, salire, scendere, uscire, nascere, morire. All of these talk about something happening, someone going somewhere or doing some sort of active thing. 

For example:

• Chiara è andata al supermercato, ma Carlo è andato a casa, in vece.* (Chiara went [has gone] to the supermarket, but Carlo [has gone] went home, instead.) 

• Loro due sono andati a ballare.* (They/the two of them [have gone] went to dance.)

*always remember to adapt the ending of the verb according to the gender or number of people it refers to — more on that further down. 

Verbs That Take Essere Or Avere

Certain Italian verbs can be formed with either essere or avere, depending on whether we want to put emphasis on the action itself or on the effect that it had.

This is pretty straightforward, really. In the case of volare, for example: 

• Gli uccelli hanno volato molto. (The birds [have flown] flew a lot.)

(Emphasis on the act of flying) 

• Gli uccelli sono volati sul tetto. (The pigeons [have flown] flew onto the roof.)

(Emphasis on the fact that they are now on the roof, rather than how they got there)

Then, there are verbs which can either have a subject or not have one. When there is a subject, avere is used, while no subject means essere is the right choice.

Take the example of affondare (to sink) (a similar example in English is that you can sink (yourself) or sink something, drown or drown something, and so on) : 

• Loro hanno affondato tre navi. (They sank three ships.)

• Tre navi sono affondate. (Three ships have sunk.)

Essere And Avere Rules

It’s also important to remember these rules: 

1. As mentioned above, if essere is being used, the gender of the person or the number of people must be reflected in the verb form:

• Lei è venuta ieri. (She came [has come] yesterday.)

• Noi siamo arrivati. (We [have] arrived.)

2. If avere is being used, the subject defines the verb form whenever there is a direct object pronoun (known in Italian as pronomi clitici) like mi, mi, la, lo, ci, vi, etc.: 

• L’ho viste arrivare. (I saw them arriving.)

…but when there is no clitic pronoun, you don’t need to adapt it: 

• Ho visto le ragazze giocare con un cagnolino. (I saw the girls playing with a puppy.)

Another pretty important thing to remember is that there are both regular and irregular Italian verb forms.

Examples of regular form include andare (andato, andata, andati, etc.), avere, dormire, guardare, mangiare.

Irregular forms can be found in the case of essere (stato, stata, stati, etc.), fare (fatto) dire (detto), vedere (visto) and venire (venuto) — but that’s a whole other article. 

Italian Passato Prossimo FAQ

Wrapping It Up:The Italian Passato Prossimo

In closing, the Italian passato prossimo isn’t that hard. There are some simple rules that are either logical or easy to learn and remember. So don't let the grammar villain get you down.

Otherwise, to help you master the Italian passato prossimo, immerse yourself in Italian, like you do in the StoryLearning® method. Make sure you read in Italian, or listen to Italian, and soon this tense will become second nature.

And if you still need a hand with any aspect of Italian grammar, then my course, Italian Uncovered, will help you learn through story, not rules. Get your free 7-day trial.

Olly Richards

Creator of the StoryLearning® Method

Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.

Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.

When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.