Passato Prossimo (Present Perfect)

The Passato Prossimo is used to describe actions that have been completed in the recent past. It is the most commonly used past tense in spoken Italian, especially when talking about events that are relevant to the present.

Mood:

The Passato Prossimo is used with the indicative mood, which expresses facts, certainty, and completed actions in the past with relevance to the present.

• Mood: Indicative (expresses completed actions with present relevance)

Usage:

• To describe completed actions: Ho mangiato una pizza. (I have eaten a pizza.)
• To talk about actions that happened recently: Loro sono arrivati ieri. (They arrived yesterday.)
• Commonly used in conversation for events in the past: Abbiamo visto un bel film. (We saw a good movie.)

Formation:

The Passato Prossimo is a compound tense formed by using the auxiliary verbs avere (to have) or essere (to be) in the present tense, followed by the past participle of the main verb.

1. Using Avere:

   • Most verbs use avere as the auxiliary.

2. Using Essere:

   • Verbs of motion or change of state, as well as reflexive verbs, use essere as the auxiliary.
   • The past participle must agree in gender and number with the subject when using essere.

Conjugation:

Person	Avere (to have)	Essere (to be)
Io	ho parlato	sono andato/a
Tu	hai parlato	sei andato/a
Lui/Lei	ha parlato	è andato/a
Noi	abbiamo parlato	siamo andati/e
Voi	avete parlato	siete andati/e
Loro	hanno parlato	sono andati/e

Irregular Past Participles:

Some verbs have irregular past participles. Examples include:

• Essere (to be): stato
• Fare (to do/make): fatto
• Dire (to say): detto
• Vedere (to see): visto
• Leggere (to read): letto

Common Time Expressions:

• Ieri (yesterday)
• Stamattina (this morning)
• Già (already)

Examples:

• Ho già finito i compiti. (I have already finished the homework.)
• Lui è andato al lavoro. (He went to work.)
• Abbiamo mangiato fuori ieri sera. (We ate out last night.)