Most Italian verbs form the passato prossimo with avere: ho mangiato, ho visto. Essere is used with verbs of movement to a place, changes of state, reflexive verbs and a short list of others: sono andato, mi sono svegliata. With essere, the past participle agrees with the subject. If the verb has a direct object, it takes avere.
English builds every perfect tense with one auxiliary: I have eaten, I have gone, I have woken up. Italian splits the job between avere (to have) and essere (to be), so the English instinct produces ho andato, which no Italian says. The correct form is sono andato, literally "I am gone."
Older English actually worked the same way. Phrases like "he is gone," "the day is come" and "Christ is risen" are fossils of a time when English used be with verbs of motion and change. If you know those phrases, you already have a feel for the Italian essere verbs.
There is a second trap. The passato prossimo usually translates the English simple past, not the present perfect. Ieri ho mangiato una pizza is "Yesterday I ate a pizza." Do not let the word ho push you toward "I have eaten" when you translate, and do not avoid the tense when telling a story about last weekend. In everyday speech across most of Italy, it is the normal way to say what happened.
If the verb can take a direct object, meaning it answers "what?" or "whom?" without a preposition, it uses avere. That covers the large majority of verbs.
The test still applies when the object is not mentioned: Ho già mangiato (I've already eaten) takes avere because you can always eat something.
Verbs that cannot take a direct object split into two groups. The ones below take essere. Most describe arriving somewhere, leaving, staying, or becoming something different.
| Meaning | Verbs | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Going and coming | andare, venire, arrivare, partire, tornare | Sono tornata ieri sera. |
| In and out | entrare, uscire | Siamo usciti alle otto. |
| Staying | stare, restare, rimanere | È rimasto a casa. |
| Being and becoming | essere, diventare | Sono stato a Roma. |
| Birth and death | nascere, morire | È nata a Napoli. |
| Falling, happening | cadere, succedere, capitare | Cos'è successo? |
| Liking, seeming, costing | piacere, sembrare, costare | Il film mi è piaciuto. |
Essere and stare share the same participle, stato. Sono stato a Firenze means "I've been to Florence" or "I was in Florence," depending on context. The form ho stato does not exist.
Piacere is the one that ties English speakers in knots, because the thing you liked is the grammatical subject. "I liked the film" becomes Il film mi è piaciuto, and with a plural subject, I film mi sono piaciuti.
Here is where a simple "no object means essere" rule breaks. Many verbs with no direct object describe an activity rather than a movement to a destination or a change, and they take avere.
| Verb | Passato prossimo | English |
|---|---|---|
| dormire | ho dormito | I slept |
| camminare | ho camminato | I walked |
| viaggiare | ho viaggiato | I traveled |
| lavorare | ho lavorato | I worked |
| nuotare | ho nuotato | I swam |
| ridere | ho riso | I laughed |
| telefonare | ho telefonato | I called |
Notice that camminare, viaggiare and nuotare involve moving but take avere. The movement is the activity itself, with no arrival point built in. Compare Ho camminato per due ore (I walked for two hours) with Sono andato in centro (I went downtown).
With essere, the past participle changes its ending to match the subject, like an adjective.
| Subject | andare |
|---|---|
| Marco | è andato |
| Giulia | è andata |
| Marco e Luca | sono andati |
| Giulia e Sara | sono andate |
| Marco e Giulia | sono andati |
A mixed group takes the masculine plural. If you are a woman, every essere verb you use about yourself ends in a: Sono arrivata, sono nata a Chicago. Italians notice when a woman says sono andato.
With avere, the participle does not agree with the subject: Giulia ha mangiato, never ha mangiata. The one exception is a direct object pronoun lo, la, li or le placed before the verb: La pizza? L'ho mangiata. I biglietti? Li ho comprati.
Any verb used with a reflexive pronoun takes essere, even if the same verb takes avere without it.
A few verbs take avere when they have an object and essere when they do not. The meaning tells you which one.
| Verb | With avere | With essere |
|---|---|---|
| finire | Ho finito il libro. | Il film è finito. |
| cominciare | Ho cominciato il corso. | La lezione è cominciata. |
| salire | Ho salito le scale. | Sono salito sul treno. |
| passare | Ho passato l'estate al mare. | Sono passato da te. |
| cambiare | Ho cambiato idea. | Sei cambiato! |
| correre | Ho corso per un'ora. | Sono corso a casa. |
Weather verbs are flexible: è piovuto and ha piovuto are both accepted for "it rained." With dovere, potere and volere, the traditional choice follows the verb after them (sono dovuto partire, ho dovuto lavorare), though you will also hear avere with both in casual speech.
The auxiliary only becomes automatic when you have said these sentences many times about your own life. Tell someone, out loud, what you did yesterday: where you went, what you ate, when you woke up. A daily conversation with a tutor such as Polly in PollyStop gives you exactly that kind of repetition, with the agreement mistakes caught before they settle in.
Both. For it rained, è piovuto and ha piovuto are accepted in standard Italian, and you will hear both. Just never say ho piovuto, which would mean I rained.
No. Verbs that describe going to a destination, like andare, arrivare and partire, take essere. Verbs where the movement is the activity, like camminare, viaggiare, nuotare and correre without a destination, take avere.
Essere and stare share the participle stato, and both take essere as their auxiliary. Context decides whether sono stato a Roma means I was in Rome or I have been to Rome.
When a direct object pronoun lo, la, li or le comes before the verb, as in l'ho vista or li ho comprati. Otherwise a participle with avere keeps the masculine singular o ending.
