When forming the passato prossimo, which auxiliary verb should be used—avere or essere? How do you decide? Compound tenses such as the passato prossimo are formed with the present indicative of the
Compound tenses such as the passato prossimo are formed with the present indicative of the auxiliary verb avere or essere and the past participle (participio passato). The past participle of regular v
Many verbs in Italian, especially the -ere verbs, have irregular past participles. A list of some of the most common infinitives, along with a sample variation, as well as their past participle forms,
Italians are all one big happy family, right? Maybe it’s because there is so much cooperation in the Italian language. Plural nouns take plural articles, adjectives reflect the nouns they describe i
The imperfect tense (imperfetto) is formed by adding the same endings to all three conjugations. The only difference is the typical vowel of the infinitive. For details, see the table below.CONJUGATIN
In English the past perfect tense (trapassato prossimo) is formed with the auxiliary “had“ + the past participle of the main verb. In Italian, the trapassato prossimo, a compound tense, is formed
The remote past tense (passato remoto) is a simple tense and is formed by one word. In general, it refers to the historical past or to events that have happened in the distant past relative to the spe
Used primarily in literary contexts, the trapassato remoto (known in English as the preterite perfect) is a compound tense formed with the passato remoto of the auxiliary verb avere or essere and the
Tomorrow you will prepare pasta puttanesca. Saturday you will buy that Italian leather jacket you’ve been thinking about. Next year you will learn the future tense. Che sarà, sarà—what will be,
How to express the idea of “I will have“ or “they will have“? Use the futuro anteriore or future perfect tense. Here is what it looks like:Alle sette avremo già mangiato. (By seven we’ll al