Italian passato prossimo explained (avere or essere)

The passato prossimo is the tense you need for almost anything that already happened, whether it was yesterday or ten years ago. In this article I show how to make it. I show the steps you have to follow to get it right. Follow them and you won’t make mistakes!

At the beginning the process can be painstaking: you have to reason at every step of the procedure, but after a while, with some practice, it becomes automatic. Verbs just stick in our mind and we don’t even have to think which auxiliary we need, before saying ho visitato or sono andata. You just need some patience and a lot of exercise at the beginning.

Follow these steps to correctly conjugate the passato prossimo:

1. passato prossimo = auxiliary verb + past participle
2. choose the right auxiliary: avere or essere?
3. conjugate the auxiliary verb
4. determine the past participle
5. final touch: sometimes the past participle must change its ending

Each of these steps is described in detail below.

1. What the passato prossimo is

It is a compound tense, and the formula never changes:

passato prossimo = ausiliare (avere / essere) + participio passato

The first piece is the auxiliary verb, the ausiliare your textbook may also call a helping verb. The second piece is the past participle of the verb you want to use.

Sono arrivata ieri. (I arrived yesterday)

Ho visitato il museo. (I visited the museum)

Both sentences are passato prossimo, and one Italian tense covers two English ones. Ho mangiato is both I ate and I have eaten, and Italian does not make you choose. You also get no equivalent of “did”, so did you eat? is simply Hai mangiato?.

2. Avere or essere?

Start here every time, because this is the decision learners lose sleep over. The rule is short: almost every verb takes avere, and you use essere in the eight cases below.

essere	avere
1. Verbs of movement: andare and venire, entrare and uscire, salire and scendere, arrivare and partire, tornare (ritornare)	Almost everything else: visitare, mangiare, comprare, dormire, lavorare, guardare, telefonare, camminare
2. Verbs of permanence: restare, rimanere
3. Verbs of change: diventare, nascere, morire, ingrassare, dimagrire, crescere
4. essere and stare themselves
5. Weather verbs: è nevicato, è piovuto (you will also hear ha piovuto)
6. Pronominal verbs: the reflexive, reciprocal and apparent ones, like alzarsi, amarsi, rendersi conto, accorgersi
7. Impersonal verbs: piacere, sembrare, parere
8. Modal verbs, when the verb underneath takes essere: potere, volere, dovere

The practical test I give my students is the one in that table: is my verb in the essere column? If it is not there, the auxiliary is avere. That single question answers the vast majority of sentences.

Sono tornata a casa. (I went back home)

Sono rimasto a casa. (I stayed at home)

Sono nata e cresciuta in Argentina. (I was born and raised in Argentina)

Siamo stati in vacanza due settimane. (We were on vacation for two weeks)

And the other side of the table, where the auxiliary stays avere:

Ho visitato Milano. (I visited Milan)

Ho lavorato tutto il giorno. (I worked all day)

Categories 5, 6 and 7 are the ones textbooks often leave out, and they explain a lot of sentences that otherwise look random. Ieri è nevicato tutto il giorno. (It snowed all day yesterday), Mi sono alzato alle dieci. (I got up at ten), Ci siamo tanto amati. (We loved each other a lot), Il film è piaciuto molto. (We really liked the film), Mi sono accorto di un errore. (I noticed a mistake).

Then come the traps, and these are the ones that produce real mistakes in class. Camminare, viaggiare, ballare and telefonare describe movement or contact, and they all take avere: Ho camminato per due ore. (I walked for two hours), Ho telefonato a mia madre. (I called my mother). A handful of verbs take either auxiliary, depending on the sentence, and they have their own section below.

3. The conjugated auxiliary

The auxiliary is a normal verb in the present tense, so conjugate it normally and change nothing else.

essere		avere
io	sono	io	ho
tu	sei	tu	hai
lui / lei	è	lui / lei	ha
noi	siamo	noi	abbiamo
voi	siete	voi	avete
loro	sono	loro	hanno

Now the same two verbs with a verb attached, all six persons, because seeing it written out is what makes the pattern click:

ANDARE (auxiliary essere)	DORMIRE (auxiliary avere)
io sono andato/a	io ho dormito
tu sei andato/a	tu hai dormito
lui è andato, lei è andata	lui / lei ha dormito
noi siamo andati/e	noi abbiamo dormito
voi siete andati/e	voi avete dormito
loro sono andati/e	loro hanno dormito

4. The past participle

The participle comes from your verb, and the regular endings depend on which group the verb belongs to.

Verb group	Ending	Example
-are	-ato	parlare → parlato
-ere	-uto	cadere → caduto
-ire	-ito	dormire → dormito

Most verbs follow those three lines, and then there are the irregular past participles you simply have to know. These are the ones a beginner meets first:

Verb	Participle	Example
essere	stato	Sono stato a Roma. (I was in Rome)
fare	fatto	Ho fatto i compiti. (I did my homework)
prendere	preso	Ho preso il treno. (I took the train)
vedere	visto	Ho visto un film. (I watched a film)
rimanere	rimasto	Sono rimasto a casa. (I stayed at home)
dire	detto	Ho detto la verità. (I told the truth)
mettere	messo	Ho messo il libro sul tavolo. (I put the book on the table)
scrivere	scritto	Ho scritto una lettera. (I wrote a letter)
leggere	letto	Ho letto il giornale. (I read the newspaper)
venire	venuto	Sono venuto in macchina. (I came by car)
chiedere	chiesto	Ho chiesto un favore. (I asked a favor)
nascere	nato	Sono nato a Napoli. (I was born in Naples)

Read them out loud once, because the participle is what you actually say in the middle of a sentence, and the ear remembers better than the page.

5. If the auxiliary is essere, the participle changes

This is the part English speakers notice without understanding. With avere, the participle ends in -o and never moves:

Luca ha comprato il giornale. (Luca bought the newspaper)

Maria ha comprato il giornale. (Maria bought the newspaper)

Same ending for the masculine and feminine, because the auxiliary is avere.

Things change when the auxiliary is essere:

Subject	Andare	Meaning
masculine singular	sono andato	I went (man speaking)
feminine singular	sono andata	I went (woman speaking)
masculine plural	siamo andati	we went (men, or mixed)
feminine plural	siamo andate	we went (women only)

Two details come up again in class. A mixed group takes the masculine: Laura e Paolo sono andati in montagna. (Laura and Paolo went to the mountains).

NOTE: A direct object pronoun pulls the same agreement into an avere sentence, which is the one exception to the -o rule: Li ho visti ieri. (I saw them yesterday), not li ho visto. If you want to review direct object pronouns, read the pronoun article after this one.

Your turn: read these two emails

Here is how we practice this in class. Read the two messages, then find the auxiliary in every past-tense verb and say why it is the one it is.

Ciao Marta,

sono tornato ieri da Palermo. Ho passato tre giorni splendidi: il primo giorno ho visitato il mercato e ho comprato due ceramiche per la cucina. La sera ho cenato con mio cugino in una trattoria vicino al porto e abbiamo mangiato una pasta con le sardine. Sabato sono andato in barca con i suoi amici e ho visto la costa da lontano. Domani ti racconto tutto.

A presto, Luca

Ciao Giulia,

siamo appena rientrati dalla Val Gardena. Siamo partiti venerdì dopo il lavoro e siamo arrivati in albergo alle dieci. Sabato mattina io sono rimasta a letto, ma Marco ed Elena sono usciti presto e sono saliti fino al rifugio. Nel pomeriggio siamo andati insieme in paese e abbiamo comprato due sciarpe. La domenica è stata breve, purtroppo: ho dormito poco e ho preparato le valigie.

Ci sentiamo presto, Paola

Now check yourself, with the reason in the third column.

Verb	Auxiliary	Why
sono tornato	essere	movement, case 1 in the table above
ho passato	avere	not a verb that needs essere
ho visitato	avere	not a verb that needs essere
ho comprato	avere	not a verb that needs essere
ho cenato	avere	not a verb that needs essere
abbiamo mangiato	avere	not a verb that needs essere
sono andato	essere	movement
ho visto	avere	not a verb that needs essere
siamo rientrati	essere	movement
siamo partiti	essere	movement
siamo arrivati	essere	movement
sono rimasta	essere	verb of permanence, case 2 in the table above
sono usciti	essere	movement
sono saliti	essere	movement
siamo andati	essere	movement
abbiamo comprato	avere	not a verb that needs essere
è stata	essere	essere itself needs essere auxiliary, case 4 of the table above
ho dormito	avere	not a verb that needs essere
ho preparato	avere	not a verb that needs essere

Verbs that take both (iniziare, cominciare, finire)

Cominciare, iniziare and finire take either auxiliary, and the choice depends on what the verb is doing in your sentence.

When you start or finish something, the auxiliary is avere, because the thing you start or finish is a direct object:

Io ho cominciato l’università nel 2021. (I started university in 2021)

Tu hai finito il master l’anno scorso. (You finished your master’s last year)

The test I use in class is the question cominciato che cosa?, finito che cosa? If you can answer it, you need avere. The answers here are l’università and il master, both direct objects of the verb.

When nothing is being started by anyone and the subject is simply the event, the auxiliary is essere:

Il concerto è cominciato alle 20. (The concert started at 8 pm)

La riunione è finita due ore fa. (The meeting ended two hours ago)

Nobody begins the concert in that sentence. The concert is the subject, the verb reports that it began, and so the participle agrees with it: il concerto è cominciato, la riunione è finita.

Iniziare behaves exactly like cominciare: Ho iniziato il corso a settembre. (I started the course in September) with an object, and Il film è iniziato tardi. (The film started late) with the event as the subject.

Reflexive and reciprocal verbs (Verbi riflessivi e reciproci)

Reflexive verbs always take essere, so the participle agrees with the subject:

Mi sono svegliato presto. (I woke up early, man speaking)

Mi sono svegliata presto. (I woke up early, woman speaking)

Ci siamo divertiti molto. (We had a lot of fun)

Reciprocal verbs are pronominal too, so the auxiliary does not change: Ci siamo tanto amati. (We loved each other a lot), Ci siamo visti ieri. (We saw each other yesterday).

There is one pair worth separating clearly, because students bring it to class as a puzzle. Mi sono dimenticata delle chiavi. (I forgot the keys) is reflexive and takes essere. Ho dimenticato le chiavi a casa. (I left the keys at home) is not reflexive at all, so it takes avere. Two different verbs, two different rules.

Modal verbs in the past (I verbi modali al passato)

Dovere, potere and volere take avere when the verb underneath takes avere:

Ho dovuto comprare quella casa. (I had to buy that house)

Non ho potuto dormire. (I could not sleep)

Ho voluto provare. (I wanted to try)

When the verb underneath takes essere, the modal can follow it, and then the participle agrees with the speaker:

Sono dovuta andare via presto. (I had to leave early, woman speaking)

Sono voluta andare. (I wanted to go)

Both forms are accepted in this case. Sono dovuto andare and ho dovuto andare are equally correct, and what changes is the emphasis: with essere the modal picks up the auxiliary of the verb it carries, with avere it keeps its own. The verb essere itself goes back to avere: Avrei dovuto essere lì. (I should have been there). If the double form feels like an extra decision at this stage, use avere and you will be right in every sentence you build for the next year.

The rule in this section follows Treccani and the Accademia della Crusca, if you like your grammar straight from the source.

Passato prossimo or imperfetto?

That question deserves its own lesson, and it is coming as a separate article in this series: the passato prossimo tells what happened, the imperfetto describes what was going on around it, and the two usually appear in the same paragraph.

The mistakes our students actually make

These are the sentences my students bring to class, with the fix in one line.

• Ho andato a Roma. The verb is andare, so the auxiliary is essere: sono andato.
• Sono andato when a woman is speaking. With essere the participle agrees: sono andata.
• Maria ha comprata la pizza. With avere the participle stays in -o: ha comprato.
• Ho camminato is right, and ho telefonato is right, even though both verbs sound like movement: neither is in the essere column.
• Ho partito / ho arrivato. Both verbs are movement, so both take essere: sono partito, sono arrivato.
• Mi sono piaciuto il film. Impersonal verbs take essere, and the thing liked is the subject: Il film mi è piaciuto.
• Sono andata in Sicilia against sono stata in Sicilia. Both are correct, and the difference is the verb you chose: andare counts a trip, stare reports the time you spent there.

How to practice

Pick one verb a day and put it through all six persons with the right auxiliary, out loud. Andare takes thirty seconds and covers the agreement in every form. Do mangiare the next day, and you have both halves of the system.

Then rewrite yesterday in five sentences, in the past, and read them back. When a sentence sounds off, check the two decisions in order: is my verb in the essere column, and if it is, does the participle match who is speaking? That habit is what turns the rule into a reflex.

Try it yourself

You have the auxiliary, the participle and the agreement. Here are six sentences to put the three of them together. Pick an answer and you get the reason either way.

Want a Hand?

Reading the rule is the easy part. Saying sono andato instead of ho andato while you are talking is a habit, and habits come from speaking with someone who catches the slip in the moment.

Not sure where to start? Take our level test and find out how much of this tense you already use without thinking. If you would rather hear yourself speak, Book a free trial lesson and we will tell the story of your last weekend in the past tense together.