Once it’s done: finita la cena

One action finished, then the next

Put the past participle first, then what it applies to, then a comma and the main clause. The participle clause describes something already complete when the main action happens, so it means after or once.

The main clause can be in any tense, from the passato prossimo to the present or the passato remoto of stories. Unless the participle has a subject of its own, the person behind it is the main subject.

Same moment, not before? Use the gerund: Tornando a casa, ho incontrato Luca.

Essere verbs: agree with the subject

With verbs that take essere in the passato prossimo (arrivare, partire, tornare, uscire, entrare), the participle agrees with the subject, just as in è arrivata or sono tornati.

So the ending tells you who arrived: a man, a woman or a group.

Verbs with an object: agree with the object

With a transitive verb, the noun after the participle is its object, and the participle agrees with that object: letto il giornale, letta la lettera, letti i messaggi, lette le email.

This is the trap for English speakers: the subject doesn’t matter. In Letta la lettera, Marco è uscito, letta agrees with la lettera, not with Marco. Think of it as passive: la lettera è stata letta.

A few participles work almost like prepositions meaning given or considering, and they agree too: vista la situazione, dati i costi.

Pronouns on the end

Object and reflexive pronouns can’t go in front of the participle. They join its end as one word, and the participle agrees with them: visto + lo → vistolo, vista + la → vistala, salutati + ci → salutatici.

Reflexive verbs do the same with si, agreeing with the subject: accortosi for a man, accortasi for a woman. This is literary, so you’ll mostly read it.

A subject of its own, and una volta

The participle clause can have its own subject, different from the main one. Put it after the participle and agree with it: Partiti gli ospiti, abbiamo riordinato la cucina. With the noun first (gli ospiti partiti, …) it’s an old literary order that modern readers take as the guests who left, so keep the participle first.

Una volta + participle means once: Una volta finito il lavoro, ti chiamo. It’s less bookish and common in plans and instructions, with the same agreement rules.

What people say in conversation

In conversation, Italians more often say dopo aver or dopo essere + participle, or quando or dopo che with the passato prossimo.

With dopo essere, the participle agrees with the subject: dopo essere arrivate. With dopo aver it doesn’t agree with an object that follows, as in the passato prossimo: dopo aver visto la mostra, but vista la mostra (a pronoun in front still counts: dopo averla vista). English says after eating, but standard Italian puts the infinitive in the past: dopo aver mangiato, not dopo mangiare. In casual speech you’ll also hear dopo mangiato; it’s fine with friends, but write dopo aver mangiato.

Dopo aver is also the way out for verbs like lavorare and dormire, which take avere and have no object, so they can’t stand alone: Lavorato tutto il giorno, … sounds broken.

The participio presente: cantante, interessante

The present participle ends in -ante for -are verbs and -ente for -ere and -ire verbs: cantare → cantante, sorridere → sorridente. It has one form for both genders and a plural in -i: una storia interessante, persone sorridenti.

Today it’s almost always a noun (il cantante, i partecipanti, l’insegnante) or an adjective (interessante, divertente). Watch the English: an -ing adjective is the participio presente, an -ed one the past participle. The film is interessante; you are interessato.

In formal writing it can still act like a verb, with its own complement: i cittadini residenti nel comune. In speech, say che abitano nel comune.

Not every verb has a participio presente you can use: there’s no mangiante. When in doubt, use che + a verb.

Common mistakes

• Finito la cena, siamo usciti.Finita la cena, siamo usciti.The participle agrees with la cena: finita.
• Letto la lettera, Marco è uscito.Letta la lettera, Marco è uscito.With a transitive verb, agree with the object (la lettera), not with the subject.
• Lavorato tutto il giorno, ero distrutto.Dopo aver lavorato tutto il giorno, ero distrutto.Verbs with avere and no object can’t stand alone as a participle.
• Lo visto, lo salutò.Vistolo, lo salutò.Pronouns join the end of the participle.
• Gli ospiti partiti, abbiamo cenato.Partiti gli ospiti, abbiamo cenato.In modern Italian the participle’s own subject goes after it. Noun first is old literary style.
• Dopo aver vista la mostra, …Dopo aver visto la mostra, …After aver, the participle doesn’t agree with an object that follows; it agrees when it stands alone (or with a pronoun in front: dopo averla vista).
• Dopo mangiare, siamo usciti.Dopo aver mangiato, siamo usciti.After dopo, standard Italian uses the past infinitive.
• Sono molto interessante al corso.Sono molto interessato al corso.How you feel is the past participle; interessante describes the thing.

The full pattern

A participle first means an action already finished. Its ending depends on the verb.

Not with avere verbs that have no object: dopo aver lavorato, never lavorato tutto il giorno.

After aver, no agreement with an object that follows: dopo aver visto la mostra, but vista la mostra.

-ing adjectives take -ante/-ente; -ed adjectives are the past participle: interessante, interessato.