Passato prossimo vs imperfetto: Italian past tenses

Italian speakers use two everyday past tenses. The passato prossimo reports what happened, one event at a time. The imperfetto paints the background: how things were, what used to happen, what was going on. Most stories need both.

(Italian also has a passato remoto, which is common in books and in some southern regions. A learner can leave it for later, because the passato prossimo covers the same ground in speech.)

Forming the passato prossimo

The tense has two parts: the present tense of an auxiliary, avere or essere, and a past participle.

Regular participles end in -ato (-are verbs), -uto (-ere verbs) and -ito (-ire verbs). Many common verbs have irregular ones:

Avere or essere?

Most verbs take avere. A group of verbs of movement and change, and all reflexive verbs, take essere: andare, venire, arrivare, partire, entrare, uscire, tornare, restare, nascere, morire, diventare.

With essere, the participle agrees with the subject like an adjective:

• Marco è partito. / Giulia è partita.
• Siamo arrivati. / Siamo arrivate.
• Si sono alzati presto.

With avere, the participle does not change, unless a direct object pronoun such as lo, la, li, le comes before it: Ho visto Anna. L'ho vista ieri.

Forming the imperfetto

The imperfetto is very regular. Drop -re from the infinitive and add the endings.

A few verbs are irregular: essere (ero, eri, era, eravamo, eravate, erano), fare (facevo), dire (dicevo), bere (bevevo).

When to use each

Use the passato prossimo for:

• a single completed event: Sabato siamo andati al cinema.
• events in sequence: Mi sono alzato, ho fatto la doccia e sono uscito.
• an action with a stated limit: Ho abitato a Torino per tre anni.

Use the imperfetto for:

• habits and repeated actions: Ogni estate andavamo al mare.
• descriptions of people, places and weather: Faceva bel tempo. La casa era grande.
• feelings and states: Volevo partire. Aveva paura.
• an action in progress when another happened: Leggevo quando è squillato il telefono.

Same verb, different meaning

Some verbs shift meaning with the tense.

Common mistakes

• Using avere with a verb that takes essere: Ho andato should be Sono andato.
• Forgetting agreement with essere: Maria è partito should be Maria è partita.
• Describing a background with the passato prossimo. Era stanco is a state, so Ieri sono stato stanco sounds odd.
• Using the imperfetto for a clearly finished event: Ieri visitavo il museo sounds unfinished. Say Ieri ho visitato il museo.

Practice

The same choice exists in Spanish and French. For comparison, see preterite vs imperfect in Spanish and passé composé vs imparfait in French.