Italian Passato Prossimo: Talk About What You Did (A2)

Want to tell a friend what you did yesterday in Italian? The key tense is the passato prossimo — the "near past." In this lesson, you’ll learn how to form it, when to use avere vs essere, and the most common verbs and time phrases to make your stories clear and natural.

What is the passato prossimo?

The passato prossimo is used for completed actions in the recent past. Think: what you did yesterday, last weekend, this morning.

Structure:

  • Auxiliary verb in the present (avere or essere)
  • Past participle (participio passato)

Example: "Ho mangiato" = I ate / I have eaten.

Italian
Ieri ho mangiato una pizza.
Lit: /
Yesterday I ate a pizza.
Italian
Siamo arrivati tardi.
Lit: /
We arrived late.

The auxiliaries: avere vs essere

Most verbs use avere. Verbs of movement or change of state (and all reflexive verbs) use essere. With essere, the participle agrees with the subject in gender and number (o/a/i/e).

parlare passato prossimo
Pronoun Conjugation
io //
tu //
lui/lei //
noi //
voi //
loro //

Notice how parlare uses avere and the participle stays “parlato” for everyone.

Ieri ho una telefonata.

Common participles you’ll use all the time

Here are high-frequency verbs for daily life, with examples.

mangiare → mangiato /
to eat → eaten/ate
verb
Ho mangiato presto.
I ate early.
vedere → visto /
to see → seen/saw (irregular)
verb
Abbiamo visto il film.
We saw the film.
fare → fatto /
to do/make → done/made (irregular)
verb
Ha fatto i compiti.
He/She did homework.
arrivare → arrivato/a/i/e /
to arrive → arrived (uses essere, agrees)
verb
Sono arrivata alle nove.
I arrived at nine. (speaker female)
andare → andato/a/i/e /
to go → went (uses essere, agrees)
verb
Siamo andati al museo.
We went to the museum. (group includes males)

Marco è a casa alle otto.

Word origin: “passato prossimo”

The name literally means “near past.” It’s the go-to tense for recent, completed actions.

passato past / participio passato of passare prossimo near/next (adjective)

Build natural sentences with time phrases

Use these to anchor your story:

  • ieri (yesterday), ieri sera (last night)
  • stamattina (this morning), oggi (today)
  • sabato scorso (last Saturday), la settimana scorsa (last week)
  • un’ora fa (an hour ago)
🔠 Put the words in order

Start with the time word, then subject+auxiliary.

Using essere: agreement matters

With essere, match the participle to gender/number. If you’re female: “Sono andata.” If your group is all female: “Siamo andate.” Mixed or all male: “Siamo andati.”

andare passato prossimo
Pronoun Conjugation
io //
tu //
lui/lei //
noi //
voi //
loro //
Ieri ho andato al mercato. → Ieri sono andato/al mercato. Andare takes essere, not avere. Agree andato/andata with gender. Lucia è arrivato alle dieci. → Lucia è arrivata alle dieci. With essere, participle agrees with the subject’s gender.

Noi abbiamo il film ieri sera.

Mini conversation (put it in order)

Two friends talk about the weekend using passato prossimo. Put the lines in the right order.

💬 Weekend catch-up

Quick checks and tips

  • Remember: avere + participle (no agreement) vs essere + participle (agreement).
  • Time phrases usually go at the beginning: “Ieri…”, “Sabato scorso…”.
  • Negation: place non before the auxiliary: “Non ho mangiato”, “Non siamo andati”.
  • Questions: invert only with tone or add a question word: “Dove sei andata?”, “Hai visto il film?”
🧠 Passato prossimo basics

Short practice

Try to say these out loud about your yesterday:

  • Ieri ho lavorato fino alle cinque.
  • Dopo, sono andato/andata a casa.
  • La sera abbiamo visto una serie.
  • Domenica siamo rimasti/rimaste a casa.

Add a time phrase at the start and a detail at the end (where? with whom?).

Italian
Ieri sera non ho cucinato; abbiamo ordinato la pizza.
Lit: /
Last night I didn’t cook; we ordered pizza.
Italian
Stamattina sono uscita presto.
Lit: /
This morning I went out early. (speaker female)

Cultural note

In Italy, people love to recap the weekend on Monday using the passato prossimo: “Sabato siamo andati in montagna”, “Ieri ho fatto un aperitivo”. Notice the common pattern: time phrase + auxiliary + participle + place/thing. If you include with whom (con gli amici, con la famiglia), your story sounds friendly and natural.

Keep listening for these forms in daily chats, TV, and social media. The more you hear “abbiamo fatto…”, “sono andato…”, the faster it will feel automatic.

Bravo! You’ve got the building blocks. Now, tell someone what you did yesterday — in Italian.