“What have you been up to?” To answer this common question in Italian, you'll need the main past tense, known as the passato prossimo .
It’s key to talk about where you've been, what you've done and to share life experiences.
Since we often talk about past events, getting comfortable with the passato prossimo is really helpful to build connections with Italians!
When do we use the passato prossimo in Italian?
The passato prossimo is used for completed actions in the past. Here are some of the ways you might use it.
What you’ve done recently
If you’re talking to Italians, they love to know the places you’ve been visiting in Italy. You can tell them using the passato prossimo.
For example:
Ho visitato il Colosseo ieri -I visited the Colosseum yesterday
Ho provato il gelato alla nocciola ieri sera -I tried hazelnut ice-cream yesterday evening
Life experiences
Sharing life experiences is a great way to connect and make friends with Italians. You might also be curious about their background and stories. To ask or reply to questions on this, you’ll need the passato prossimo.
For example:
Sono nato a New York -I was born in New York
Ho studiato medicina all’università -I studied medicine at university
Sei stato negli Stati Uniti? -Have you been to the USA?
Something you did for a certain amount of time
If you give a time frame for how long you did something in the past, whether it was a long time ago or recently, use the passato prossimo.
For example:
Abbiamo giocato a basket per dieci anni -We played basketball for ten years
Sono stato in Italia per due settimane -I was in Italy for two weeks
How to form the passato prossimo
Avere
To form the passato prossimo, you always need two parts. The first one is usually the verb avere (which means “to have”) in the present tense.
Here’s how it looks:
| Avere | To have | Ah-veh-reh |
| Ho | I have | Oh |
| Hai | You have | Eye |
| Ha | He / She has | Ah |
| Abbiamo | We have | Ah-byah-moh |
| Avete | You (plural) have | Ah-veh-teh |
| Hanno | They have | Ahn-noh |
It makes sense to use “to have” when talking about the past in Italian because we also do this in English. Like if we say “I have traveled to Italy” or “I have eaten three pizzas this week”.
Past Participle
In Italian, verbs always end in one of three ways:
-
-are, like ‘mangiare’ (to eat)
-
-ire, like ‘dormire’ (to sleep)
-
-ere, like ‘vendere’ (to sell)
For the second part of the past tense (or the “past participle” for its fancy name), we add these endings:
-
are verbs → ato
-
ire verbs → ito
-
ere verbs → uto
For example:
| mangi are | mangi ato |
| dormi re | dorm ito |
| vend ere | vend uto |
So putting both of those parts together it would be:
Ho mangiato -I have eaten
Ho dormito -I have slept
Ho venduto -I have sold
When do I use essere in the passato prossimo in Italian?
Most of the time, you’ll want to use avere in the past tense. But there’s a group of verbs that start with essere (to be).
Here’s how it looks:
| Essere | To be | Eh-seh-reh |
| Sono | I am | Soh-noh |
| Sei | You are | Say |
| È | He / She is | Eh |
| Siamo | We are | See-ah-mo |
| Siete | You (plural) are | See-eh-teh |
| Sono | They are | Soh-noh |
Although it sounds strange now, we used to do this in English, too! For example: ”I am come a light into the world” (John 12:46). Italian still works like this today.
Let’s see some examples:
Siamo andati al Lago di Como -We went to Lake Como (lit. we are gone)
Sono arrivata a Tropea stamattina -I arrived in Tropea this morning (lit. we are arrived)
Sono venuto in treno -I came by train (lit. I am come)
How do you know which verbs go with essere ? It’s normally ones that refer to moving from one place to another, like:
-
Andare (to go)
-
Venire (to come)
-
Arrivare (to arrive)
-
Partire (to leave)
-
Uscire (to go out)
-
Tornare (to return)
We also use them with verbs that are related to states of being or changing such as:
-
Stare (to stay)
-
Crescere (to grow)
-
Nascere (to be born)
-
Diventare (to become)
Knowing when to use essere in the past tense can be confusing, so don’t worry, it’s normal to find them tricky! It’s often just a case of learning them, so we suggest starting with the most common ones and building from there.
The passato prossimo with essere: verb endings
If a verb goes with essere in the past tense, we also have to make the second verb agree with the gender and number of people doing the action.
Here’s how it looks, using the verb andare (to go) as an example:
| Sono andato/a | I went (male/female) | Soh-noh ahn-dah-toh/tah |
| Sei andato/a | You went (male/female) | Say ahn-dah-toh/tah |
| È andato/a | He / She went (male/female) | Eh ahn-dah-toh/tah |
| Siamo andati/e | We went (male/female plural) | See-ah-mo ahn-dah-tee/teh |
| Siete andati/e | You plural went (male/female plural) | See-eh-teh ahn-dah-tee/teh |
| Sono andati/e | They went (male/female plural) | Soh-noh ahn-dah-tee/teh |
For example:
Katie è andata in stazione (in ritardo 😁 ) – Katie went to the station (late 😁)
Matteo è andato al parco con Brody – Matteo went to the park with Brody
Common irregular verbs in the passato prossimo
Some Italian past tense verbs don’t follow the usual pattern – we’re afraid these are the ones you just have to learn! Concentrate on the ones you find most useful first and you’ll pick up the rest over time.
Here are some really common ones:
| Fare (to do / make) | Fatto (done) | Faht-toh |
| Leggere (to read) | Letto (read) | Leht-toh |
| Dire (to say / tell) | Detto (said) | Deh-toh |
| Bere (to drink) | Bevuto (drank) | Beh-voo-toh |
| Venire (to come) | Venuto (come) | Veh-noo-toh |
| Vivere (to live) | Vissuto (lived) | Vee-soo-toh |
| Prendere (to take) | Preso (taken) | Preh-zoh |
| Vedere (to see) | Visto (seen) | Vees-toh |
| Essere (to be) | Stato (been) | Stah-toh |
| Nascere (to be born) | Nato (born) | Nah-toh |
For example:
Sono stato a Milano -I’ve been to Milan
Abbiamo visto l’Ultima Cena -We saw The Last Supper
Passato prossimo in Italian: how to use this past tense Review
You’ve seen how the passato prossimo is really important for talking about the past. Let’s review how it works:
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The passato prossimo is used for completed actions in the past such as recent activities, life experiences and something you did for a certain period of time.
For example:
Ho visitato il Colosseo ieri -I visited the Colosseum yesterday
Sono nato a New York -I was born in New York
-
The passato prossimo is made up of two parts: avere (and sometimes essere ) plus the verb with the ato, ito or uto ending.
For example:
Ho mangiato -I have eaten
Ho dormito -I have slept
Ho venduto -I have sold
-
Verbs that go with essere in the passato prossimo tend to do with moving or states of being. The last letter of changes to agree with the person doing the action.
For example:
Siamo andati al Lago di Como -We went to Lake Como
Sono arrivata a Tropea stamattina -I arrived in Tropea this morning
-
There are a few irregular verbs in the past tense. They’re just ones to learn because they don’t follow the normal pattern.
For example:
Sono stato a Milano -I’ve been to Milan
Abbiamo visto l’Ultima Cena -We saw The Last Supper
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti! Hi everyone and welcome to “Learn Italian with Joy of Languages”.
M: There’s a special name for the past tense we’re talking about. It’s called il passato prossimo (x2). You don’t have to worry about remembering the fancy name though, just know that it’s the main past tense in Italian.
K: It’s used a lot like in English, so there aren’t too many strange concepts to get used to.
M: There are some rules when it comes to forming it – there’s a lot to learn, but no worries, because there’s no rush! We’ll show you how it works today, then you can review and gradually build on what you know by going to our blog post, the link is in the description.
K: Now you’re going to hear a conversation where we mostly use the past tense. One thing to know is that Matteo sometimes gets headaches, usually for really obvious, preventable reasons.
M: It’s easy to say that once you know! You’ll know my pain if you get them as well.
K: We often try and find out what caused the headache, and it usually comes down to one thing. You’ll find out what that is at the end of the conversation.
M: Ho mal di testa…
K: Hai fatto tanto cose oggi?
M: No, ho lavorato un po’ e sono andato al parco con Brody.
K: Mm… hai mangiato?
M: Ovviamente!
K: Hai bevuto abbastanza acqua?
M: Sì…(annoyed)
K: Come hai dormito? M: Bene… però sono un po’ stanco… Ah! Non ho preso il caffè!
Matteo told me:
M: Ho mal di testa… - I have a headache. Literally:
Ho - I have
Mal - bad
Di - of
Testa - head
K: Hopefully you won’t have to use this phrase much, but if you’re like Matteo and you get headaches, it’s handy to know, like if you need some medicine from the pharmacy.
Then I asked Matteo:
M: Hai fatto tante cose oggi? - Have you done lots of things today?
Hai - you have
Fatto - done
Tante - many
Cose - things
Oggi - today
K: So here’s the first example of the past tense.
M: Hai fatto - have you done. Literally:
Hai - you have. Spelt h-a-i, but the h is silent: hai
Fatto - done
K: Did you catch how we’re using the word “have” in English? We use “have” to talk about the past, like when I say, “I have eaten already” or “I have been to Paris.” Italian uses “have” to form the past tense, too.
M: Exactly! For example, “you have” in Italian is hai (x2) . So, to say “you have done,” you’d say hai (“you have”) and then fatto (done).
Hai fatto (x2)
K: So that’s the first rule. We need to use “have”. In this case, “you have”, which in Italian is just one word: hai (x2)
Then Matteo replied:
M: No, ho lavorato un po’ - No, I worked a bit
No - no
Ho - I have
Lavorato - worked
Un po’ - a bit
K: Here’s another example of the past tense:
M: Ho lavorato - I worked. Literally:
Ho - I have, spelt ho, but the h is silent. Ho
Lavorato - worked
K: In English, this time we don’t translate the sentence with “have”, but we still use it in Italian. Notice how we said the word lavorATO for “worked”? If we have a verb, or doing word, which ends in are, like lavorARE, then it becomes ato in the past tense.
M: LavorARE (to work); LavorATO (worked).
K: To speak is parlare. So how would I say I have spoken? I have is ho (x2), Then to turn parlare into the past, we would say:
M: Ho parlato (x2)
K: To study is studiare . I studied?
M: Ho studiato x 2
K: Then Matteo said:
M: e sono andato al parco con Brody - and I went to the park with Brody
E - and
Sono - I am
Andato - gone
Al - to the
Parco - park
Con - with
Brody - Brody
K: Here’s another past tense. This one is a little bit trickier. Let’s hear it again: M: Sono andato - I went. Literally:
Sono - I am
andato - went
K: With most verbs, we use “have”, as you’ve seen. But here we say “I am” what’s going on? It might seem strange to be saying “I am” to make the past tense, but that’s actually how we used to say it in English, too! In Shakespeare, you’ll hear lines like “I am gone forever”. And in the Bible “I am come a light into the world”.
M: So which verbs form part of this group in Italian? They tend to be ones where you’re moving from one place to another, like coming, going, arriving, returning....
K: So if you wanted to say “I have arrived” in Italian, we literally say: I am arrived.
M: Sono arrivato
Sono - I am
Arrivato - arrived
K: Or “I have returned” or “come back” in Italian would be: I am returned:
M: Sono tornato - I have come back.
Sono - I am
Tornato - returned
M: Italian often sounds a bit like old English, if you translate it literally, but that’s just how we speak everyday!
K: There’s another thing to know with these kinds of verbs in the past tense. The last letter agrees with who’s doing the action. I’m female, so to say all the sentences Matteo just did, I would say the last letter with an A at the end: I went: Sono andatA (x2).
M: There are a lot of details here, so don’t panic and think you’ve got to have all this perfected already. We suggest starting with the most common ones first.
K: Yep! You could pick a really useful one, like andare (“to go”) and practice how it works over on our blog. Then, you can gradually extend what you know to other common verbs, too.
K: I then asked Matteo:
M: Mmm… hai mangiato? - Have you eaten?
Hai - you have
Mangiato - eaten
K: Here we’re talking about our favorite thing to do, mangiare! We’re no longer talking about moving from one place to another. So we’re back to our normal verbs, where we use “have” .
M: Hai mangiato - you have eaten
Hai - you have
Mangiato - eaten
K: It would be highly unusual for Matteo to go without eating. That’s why he said:
M: Ovviamente! - Of course!
K: Ovviamente literally means “obviously”, but it can also be used to mean “of course”.
K: Since food wasn’t the problem, I asked:
M: Hai bevuto abbastanza acqua? - Have you drunk enough water?
Hai - you have
Bevuto - drunk
Abbastanza - enough
Acqua - water
K: Here’s our next past tense verb.
M: Hai bevuto - Have you drunk. Literally:
Hai - you have
Bevuto - drunk
K: So far we’ve heard verbs ending in - ato, like lavorato (worked) , mangiato (eaten). But this time we have a different ending
M: Hai bevuto (x2)
K: Bevuto (drunk) is the past tense of “bere” (to drink). Technically, verbs that end in -ere verbs become -uto in the past tense. But honestly, it’s not always helpful to memorize that rule since most verbs that end in -ere are irregular in the past and don’t follow the typical patterns.
M: The best approach is to gradually learn the most important ones as you go. You’ll hear another one at the end of our conversation. K: Matteo gets annoyed at me asking obvious questions about food and water, so he said:
M: Sì…(annoyed) - Yes
K: Then I asked:
M: Come hai dormito? - How did you sleep?
Come - how
Hai - you have
Dormito - slept
K: So the next past tense was:
M: Hai dormito. Literally
Hai - you have
Dormito - slept
K: Now we’ve come to a verb that ends in ire: Dormire (x2) (to sleep). In the past tense, ire, becomes ito. Dormire (to sleep), dormito (slept).
So let’s quickly review the verb endings. You already know that verbs that end in - are, like mangiare (to eat), become - ato.
M: Mangiare , mangiato
K: And that verbs that end in -ire, like dormire (to sleep), become -ito.
M: Dormire, dormito.
K: Then there’s the third group, verbs that end in -ere , like bere (to drink) that tend to be irregular, and you’ll hear another one soon.
Matteo had slept well, so he replied:
M: Bene… però sono un po’ stanco … - Good…but I’m a bit tired
Bene - good
Però - but
Sono - I am
Un po’ - a bit
Stanco - tired
K: Then he remembered
M: Ah! Non ho preso il caffè! - Ah! I didn’t have coffee! Literally:
Non - Not
Ho - I have
Preso - Taken
Il - The
Caffè - Coffee
M: If I forget to drink coffee, I get headaches. But it doesn’t happen often because I love my morning coffee routine and I go to extreme lengths to make sure I can have a nice one.
K: By extreme lengths, he means carrying around a personal coffee kit with a special water spray for the coffee beans.
M: Look, everyone has their things…
K: And talking about his coffee, Matteo used another example of the past tense:
Ho preso - literally:
Ho - I have
Preso - taken
K: It might seem a bit strange in Italian to say “take” rather than “have” a coffee, but that’s just how Italians say it. You can learn more about this in episode 155.
M: The irregular past is preso (x2). It comes from the verb prendere (to take) .
K: Prendere ends in -ere, so here’s another example of how a lot of verbs that end in -ere are irregular. Prendere, to take, becomes preso (x2) . Don’t worry about learning all these in one go. Again you can start with the most common ones and gradually build your knowledge.
M: And if you’ve found the past tense confusing, that’s completely normal. That’s because it is confusing! But there’s no rush, you can learn it little by little.
K: For now, just remember it’s made up of two parts. Can you remember what word I usually start with in Italian to make the past tense?
[...]
M: “Have” for example “I have” ho (x2) or “you have” hai (x2)
K: Remember the ending for are verbs? How would I say “you have eaten”?
[...]
M: - are verbs go to - ato, so you have eaten is:
hai mangiato (x2)
K: What about the ending for ire verbs. How would you say “you have slept?”
[...]
M: Ire verbs end in ito , so you have slept is:
hai dormito x2
K: And then there were a couple of words that didn’t follow the normal pattern. For example, how would we say “I have taken”?
[...]
M: Ho preso x2
K: There’s a group of verbs which use “be” instead of “have” – the ones where we’re moving from one place to another. In Italian, instead of saying “I have gone” we say “I am gone”. Remember how to say this?
[...]
M: Sono andato (x2) K: Let’s hear the whole conversation again:
M: Ho mal di testa…
K: Hai fatto tante cose oggi?
M: No, ho lavorato un po’ e sono andato al parco con Brody.
K: Mm… hai mangiato?
M: Ovviamente!
K: Hai bevuto abbastanza acqua?
M: Sì…(annoyed)
K: Come hai dormito? M: Bene… però sono un po’ stanco… Ah! Non ho preso il caffè!
K: Of course, we wouldn’t expect you to have listened to this and already be able to fluently talk about what you did yesterday or last week, the past tense takes practice.
M: If you go to our blog using the link in the description, you’ll find a full explanation of how the past tense works, so you can learn more and revisit it whenever you need. We’ve also included plenty of real-life examples so you can see how you might use it.
K: Like do you know how to say “I've been to Italy” in Italian? If you're not sure, just follow the link for a refresher!
K: See you next time or as we say in Italian.
Alla prossima!
Time to check your understanding and remember everything you just learned! Below you’ll find a mini-quiz and some vocabulary cards to help it all go in.
Quiz
How much did you learn? Find out in the quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: Passato prossimo in Italian
Vocabulary
Sono nata a Roma = I was born in Rome (female)
Sei stato negli Stati Uniti? = Have you been to the USA?
Sono stato a Milano = I’ve been to Milan (male)
Siamo andati al lago di Como = We went to Lake Como
Ho visitato il Colosseo ieri = I visited the Colosseum yesterday
Sono arrivata a Tropea = I arrived in Tropea (female)
Abbiamo visto l’Ultima Cena = We saw The Last Supper
Sono andato al parco = I have gone to the park
Non ho preso il caffè = I haven’t had a coffee
Ho lavorato un po’ = I’ve worked a bit
Flashcards: Passato prossimo in Italian
Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial
