Passato Prossimo in Italian: Conjugation Rules and How to Use It (The Main Italian Past Tense)

What Is the Passato Prossimo?

The passato prossimo is the main past tense in Italian and is used to express actions or events that occurred in the past.

Passato Prossimo vs. English Tenses

The passato prossimo corresponds to both the simple past and the present perfect in English.

Common Time Expressions with Passato Prossimo

You’ll often find it used with phrases like:

• ieri – yesterday
• stamattina – this morning
• ieri sera – last night
• venerdì scorso – last Friday
• l’anno scorso – last year
• un anno fa – a year ago
• un’ora fa – one hour ago
• due settimane fa – two weeks ago
• ultimamente – lately
• recentemente – recently

How to Form the Passato Prossimo

The passato prossimo is made up of two parts:

1. An auxiliary verb (avere or essere) in the present tense
2. A past participle of the main verb

Examples:

• Ho parlato – I spoke / I’ve spoken
• Sono andato/a – I went / I’ve gone

The auxiliary is simply the present tense of avere (ho, hai, ha, abbiamo, avete, hanno) or essere (sono, sei, è, siamo, siete, sono).

The past participle is formed by taking the verb stem and adding the appropriate ending:

• -are verbs → -ato (parlare → parlato)
• -ere verbs → -uto (avere → avuto)
• -ire verbs → -ito (finire → finito)

Most Italian verbs use avere as their auxiliary in the passato prossimo. Only a smaller group of verbs use essere.

Now let’s look at the more common conjugation pattern—the one with avere.

Passato Prossimo Conjugation with Avere

Passato Prossimo Conjugation with Essere

Some verbs use essere as the auxiliary, especially those related to movement, change of state, or reflexive actions.

Agreement of the Past Participle with Essere

When you use essere as the auxiliary verb, the past participle must agree in gender and number with the subject.

Gender and Number Endings:

• -o = masculine singular
• -a = feminine singular
• -i = masculine plural
• -e = feminine plural

Common essere verbs:

Read more: Italian Passato Prossimo with essere

Irregular Forms

Some verbs, just like in English, have an irregular past participle. This means the past participle does not follow a regular pattern.

It may help to remember that many Italian verbs that are irregular in the past are also irregular in English.

Common Italian Irregular Verbs with Passato Prossimo:

Read more: Passato Prossimo vs. Imperfetto