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2.2: Appendix B - Il passato prossimo con avere e essere

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    170765
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    What is it?

    The passato prossimo is a compound past tense consisting of an auxiliary verb and the past participle of the main verb. In Italian, the auxiliary verb can either be avere or essere.

    Il passato prossimo con avere

    Transitive verbs (i.e. verbs that take a direct object and/or respond to the questions What? or Who?) take the auxiliary verb avere in the passato prossimo.

    The past participle is formed by making the following changes and is invariable in verbs that take avere:

    mangiare ato = mangiato vendere uto = venduto dormire ito = dormito
      mangiare vendere dormire
    io ho mangiato ho venduto ho dormito
    tu hai mangiato hai venduto hai dormito
    lui/lei/Lei ha mangiato ha venduto ha dormito
    noi abbiamo mangiato abbiamo venduto abbiamo dormito
    voi avete mangiato avete venduto avete dormito
    loro hanno mangiato hanno venduto hanno dormito
    Il passato prossimo con essere

    Intransitive verbs (i.e. verbs that do not take a direct object) take the auxiliary verb essere in the passato prossimo. The past participle is formed in the same way as verbs that go with avere. Many verbs that take essere are verbs of movement or states/transformations of being.

    When a verb takes essere in the passato prossimo, its past participle changes according to the gender and number of the subject.

      andare cadere salire
    io sono andato/a sono caduto/a sono salito/a
    tu sei andato/a sei caduto/a sei salito/a
    lui/lei/Lei è andato/a è caduto/a è salito/a
    noi siamo andati/e siamo caduti/e siamo saliti/e
    voi siete andati/e siete caduti/e siete saliti/e
    loro sono andati/e sono caduti/e sono saliti/e

    The following verbs take essere in the passato prossimo:

    andare – to go

    arrivare – to arrive

    cadere – to fall

    diventare – to become

    entrare – to enter

    essere – to be

    morire – to die

    nascere-to be born

    partire – to depart

    restare – to stay

    rimanere- to remain

    (ri)tornare – to return

    salire – to go up

    scendere – to go down

    stare – to stay

    uscire – to go out, exit

    venire – to come

    vivere – to live

    All reciprocal and reflexive verbs also use essere in the passato prossimo (ex – alzarsi, abbracciarsi, etc.)

     

    2.2: Appendix B - Il passato prossimo con avere e essere is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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