What happened: ho mangiato, sono andato

One past for what happened

English has several ways to talk about the past: I ate, I have eaten, I did eat. In everyday Italian, all of them are ho mangiato. Use it for finished events, whether they happened this morning or years ago.

Questions work as usual: same words, with your voice rising at the end. Hai mangiato? can mean Did you eat? or Have you eaten?

Something that started in the past and is still going on takes the present with da: Studio l’italiano da due anni (I’ve been studying Italian for two years).

Making the participle

Take the infinitive, drop -are, -ere or -ire, and add -ato, -uto or -ito. The vowel tells you the family: parlare → parlato, ricevere → ricevuto, dormire → dormito.

Many common verbs, especially -ere verbs, have irregular participles (fatto, visto, preso). They’re the next topic, so for now stick with the regular ones.

Avere + participle

Most verbs take avere. Only avere changes for the person; the participle stays exactly the same.

With avere there is no agreement with the subject: Maria ha mangiato, le ragazze hanno mangiato. The participle stays in -o. (There’s one exception, with lo, la, li, le, which you’ll meet with object pronouns.)

Essere for going, arriving and changing

A smaller group takes essere: verbs for a change of place or state, and for staying put. The most common are andare, arrivare, partire, uscire, tornare, entrare, restare, diventare and cadere.

Think of a move from A to B, or a change from one state to another. Activities that don’t take you to a new place, like camminare, viaggiare, ballare and nuotare, take avere: ho camminato, abbiamo viaggiato.

Venire and nascere take essere too, but their participles are irregular: sono venuto, sono nato. You’ll meet them in the next topic.

With essere, the participle agrees

With essere, the participle behaves like an adjective and matches the subject. One man -o, one woman -a, a group of men or a mixed group -i, a group of women -e.

With io and tu, it matches whoever is speaking or being spoken to: Giulia says sono andata, Marco says sono andato. With formal Lei, it matches the real person: Signora, è arrivata?

Time words: ieri, scorso, fa

The passato prossimo often comes with a word that points to a finished time: ieri (yesterday), ieri sera (last night), stamattina (this morning), la settimana scorsa (last week), l’anno scorso (last year).

Scorso agrees with its noun: il mese scorso, la settimana scorsa, sabato scorso. For ago, put fa after the amount of time: tre giorni fa, un anno fa.

Where non, già, ancora and appena go

Non goes before the helper, never between the helper and the participle: non ho capito, non siamo usciti.

Già (already), ancora (yet, with non) and appena (just) usually sit between the helper and the participle: ho già mangiato, non ho ancora finito, sono appena arrivata.

Common mistakes

• Ho andato al cinema.Sono andato al cinema.Andare is a move from A to B, so it takes essere.
• Maria è andato a Roma.Maria è andata a Roma.With essere the participle matches the subject: one woman, -a.
• Maria ha comprata una borsa.Maria ha comprato una borsa.With avere the participle doesn’t agree with the subject: it stays in -o.
• Ieri mangio una pizza.Ieri ho mangiato una pizza.For something finished, use the passato prossimo, not the present.
• Ho non capito.Non ho capito.Non goes before the helper.
• Siamo viaggiati in Italia.Abbiamo viaggiato in Italia.Travelling is an activity, not a move to one place, so it takes avere.
• Ho studiato l’italiano da due anni.Studio l’italiano da due anni.If it’s still going on, Italian uses the present with da.

The full pattern

The present of avere or essere, then the past participle.

With essere, the participle agrees: Maria è andata, siamo partiti.

With avere, it doesn’t agree with the subject: Maria ha mangiato.

Non goes before the helper; già, ancora and appena go between: non ho ancora finito.