Italian Past Tense

Tempo Passato : Italian Past Tense

Italian uses two past tenses to describe actions that happened in the past, L’imperfetto (the imperfect tense) and Passato Prossimo (the perfect tense).

L’IMPERFETTO

This tense is used to describe actions that continued in the past over a period of time or occurred multiple times. In Italian this tense is formed by a single verb while in English it is formed by two verbs, an auxiliary verb and the past participle.

Ascoltavo la radio. I was listening to the radio.

Pensavo a te. I was thinking about you.

Guidavo la macchina quando ho sentito la scuilla del cellulare. I was driving a car when I heard cell phone ring.

The majority of the verbs have regular forms in Imperfetto with only few verbs being irregular.

REGULAR VERBS

The tense is formed by each verb group –are, -ere, -ire adding standard endings to the stem.

	Studiare to study	Mangiare to eat	Partire to leave
Io	Studiavo	Mangiavo	Partivo
Tu	Studiavi	Mangiavi	Partivi
Lui/Lei	Studiava	Mangiava	Partiva
Noi	Studiavamo	Mangiavamo	Partivamo
Voi	Studiavate	Mangiavate	Partivate
Loro	Studiavano	Mangiavano	Partivano

IRREGULAR VERBS

There are only few verbs which have irregular forms in the Imperfetto. Memorizing them is the best study approach. Please pay special attention to the verb essere – to be as it is a frequently used verb.

ESSERE To be	Fare To make	Dire To tell	Bere To drink	Porre To put /place	Verbs ending in durre
ero	facevo	dicevo	bevevo	ponevo	-ducevo
eri	facevi	dicevi	bevevi	ponevi	-ducevi
era	faceva	diceva	beveva	poneva	-duceva
eravamo	facevamo	dicevamo	bevevamo	ponevamo	-ducevamo
eravate	facevate	dicevate	bevevate	ponevate	-ducevate
erano	facevano	dicevano	bevevano	ponevano	-ducevano

Last column represents all verbs ending in –durre like produrre and ridurre. All these verbs follow pattern as shown in the last column in table above.

PASSATO PROSSIMO

This tense is used to describe an action that happened at a particular point in the past. In Italian this tense is formed by an auxiliary verb and a past participle of the main verb, while in English it is formed by one verb.

Ho ricevuto la telefonata. I received a phone call.

Ho studiato la matematica. I studied math.

Ho parlato con il mio amico. I talked to my friend.

Past participle of the verb is formed by adding standard endings to the stems.

Infinitive

Infinito

Past Participle

Particilio Passato

parlare

andare

parlato

andato

vedere

sedere

veduto

seduto

finire

pulire

finito

pulito

Both avere and essere are used as the auxiliary verbs. The choice between the two verbs is made based on the past participle of the verb. Past participle can be formed by either transitive or intransitive verb.

TRANSITIVE VERBS

Transitive verbs include all verbs with the exception of motion and reflexive verbs. Transitive verbs use avere as auxiliary verbs. Listed below are some examples of the transitive verbs are:

Infinitive infinito	Meaning significa	Auxiliary Verb Verbo ausiliario	Past Participle Participio passato
aprire	to open	ho	aperto
mettere	to put	ho	messo
prendere	to take	ho	preso
rispondere	to answer	ho	risposto
smettere	to stop	ho	smesso
vivere	to live	ho	vissuto

Ho ricevuto il messaggio. I received a message.

Ho parlato con il professore. I talked to a professor.

INTRANSITIVE VERBS

Intransitive verbs include all motion and reflexive verbs. Intransitive verbs require essere as the auxiliary verb and the past participle agrees with the subject of the verb.

Infinitive infinito	Meaning significa	Auxiliary Verb Verbo ausiliario	Past Participle Participio passato
andare	to go	sono	andato/andata
partire	to leave	siete	partiti
salire	to get into	sono	Saliti/salite
scendere	to get out of	Sei	sceso/scesa
venire	to come	siamo	venuti