Italian Passato Prossimo: Essere or Avere?

Present tense of avere or essere + past participle. Regular participles: -are → -ato, -ere → -uto, -ire → -ito Ho mangiato. = I ate / I have eaten.

Most transitive verbs (those that can take a direct object): mangiare, comprare, vedere, fare, leggere, scrivere... Also some intransitive verbs such as dormire, camminare, viaggiare, lavorare.

Most verbs of movement or change of state (andare, venire, arrivare, partire, uscire, entrare, tornare, nascere, morire, diventare), stare, restare, essere itself, and all reflexive verbs.

With essere: it agrees in gender and number, like an adjective. Maria è andata. I ragazzi sono partiti. Le ragazze sono arrivate.

Yesterday I ate a pizza. mangiare is transitive, so it takes avere.

Maria went to Rome. andare takes essere; andata agrees with Maria.

We arrived late. arrivare takes essere; masculine plural agreement.

Did you do your homework? fare has an irregular participle: fatto.

I saw a good movie. vedere: irregular participle visto (veduto is rare).

She was born in 1995. nascere takes essere; irregular participle nato.

We slept well. dormire is intransitive but takes avere.

The boys went out at ten. uscire takes essere; masculine plural.

I wrote an email. scrivere: irregular participle scritto.

My (female) friends left yesterday. partire takes essere; feminine plural.

I woke up at seven. (a man speaking) Reflexive verbs always take essere.

He has been to Venice. essere uses essere as its own auxiliary; stato is also the participle of stare.

Did you (all) take the train? prendere: irregular participle preso.

I read the book. leggere: irregular participle letto.

Paolo came to the party. venire takes essere; irregular participle venuto.

They told me the truth. dire: irregular participle detto.

We stayed at home. rimanere takes essere; irregular participle rimasto.

They opened the door. aprire: irregular participle aperto.