Italian Demystified. A self-Teaching Guide
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get up early tomorrow!
!
3. Tell Mary and Mark to . . .
enjoy themselves at the party!
!
not put on a costume (un costume)!
!
4. Tell Mary and Claudia to . . .
try on some new clothes!
!
phone each other more often!
!
5. Tell Mrs. Dini to . . .
enjoy herself at the party!
!
not put on red pants!
!
6. Tell Mr. Nitti to . . .
try on that coat!
!
get up early tomorrow!
!
Circle the correct word or response for the following.
7. C’è di studenti in quella classe.
(a) una trentina (c) mezzo
(b) centinaia (d) niente
8. Qual è la Sua taglia?
(a) Porto il quaranta. (c) Ho bisogno di un paio di scarpe.
(b) È in saldo. (d) Desidera?
CHAPTER 11 Using Refl exive Verbs 227
228 Italian Demystifi ed
Personal Matters! Answer each question appropriately.
9. A che ora ti alzi di solito?
.
10. Che taglia porti?
.
229
CHAPTER 12
Using the Present
Perfect Tense
Here’s what you will learn in this chapter:
Present Perfect Tense with Avere
Present Perfect Tense with Essere
Irregular Past Participles
More About the Defi nite Article
Present Perfect Tense with Avere
Ieri ho mangiato tutto e Marco è andato al cinema. Yesterday I ate everything,
and Marco went to the movies. The two verbs in this sentence are in the present
perfect tense. The present perfect tense is used to express simple actions that have
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230 Italian Demystifi ed
been completed at the time of speaking. It is a compound tense, which means that it
is composed of two parts. It is formed with the present indicative form of an auxil-
iary verb plus the past participle of the verb showing the action, in that order.
It’s not really as complicated as it sounds. You already know the auxiliary verbs.
They are avere and essere. All you really need to learn now is how to form the past
participle:
• Change the -are ending of fi rst-conjugation verbs to -ato.
Verb Past Participle
parlare parlato
guardare guardato
• Change the -ere ending of second-conjugation verbs to -uto.
Verb Past Participle
vendere venduto
ripetere ripetuto
• Change the -ire ending of third-conjugation verbs to -ito.
Verb Past Participle
dormire dormito
capire capito
Here are the complete conjugations of three verbs using avere as the auxiliary in
the present perfect tense. Notice that this tense translates to three types of English
past tenses.
parlare to speak
(io) ho parlato I have spoken, I spoke, I did speak
(tu) hai parlato you (familiar) have spoken, you spoke, you did speak
(Lei) ha parlato you (polite) have spoken, you spoke, you did speak
(lui/lei) ha parlato he/she has spoken, he/she spoke, he/she did speak
(noi) abbiamo parlato we have spoken, we spoke, we did speak
(voi) avete parlato you (familiar plural) have spoken, you spoke, you did speak
(Loro) hanno parlato you (polite plural) have spoken, you spoke, you did speak
(loro) hanno parlato they have spoken, they spoke, they did speak
vendere to sell
(io) ho venduto I have sold, I sold, I did sell
(tu) hai venduto you (familiar) have sold, you sold, you did sell
(Lei) ha venduto you (polite) have sold, you sold, you did sell
(lui/lei) ha venduto he/she has sold, he/she sold, he/she did sell
(noi) abbiamo venduto
we have sold, we sold, we did sell
(voi) avete venduto you (familiar plural) have sold, you sold, you did sell
(Loro) hanno venduto you (polite plural) have sold, you sold, you did sell
(loro) hanno venduto they have sold, they sold, they did sell
fi nire to fi nish
(io) ho fi nito I have fi nished, I fi nished, I did fi nish
(tu) hai fi nito you (familiar) have fi nished, you fi nished, you did fi nish
(Lei) ha fi nito you (polite) have fi nished, you fi nished, you did fi nish
(lui/lei) ha fi nito he/she has fi nished, he/she fi nished, he/she did fi nish
(noi) abbiamo fi nito we have fi nished, we fi nished, we did fi nish
(voi) avete fi nito you (familiar plural) have fi nished, you fi nished, you did fi nish
(Loro) hanno fi nito you (polite plural) have fi nished, you fi nished, you did fi nish
(loro) hanno fi nito they have fi nished, they fi nished, they did fi nish
The following list shows many of the most commonly used adverbs in Italian,
some of which you may already have come across. Pay attention to how they are
used with the present perfect verbs in some of the sentences in the Oral Practice that
follows. Note that the word già is situated between the auxiliary verb and the past
participle; the same pattern applies to ancora and mai. This is not a strict rule of
grammar. It is a stylistic preference on the part of Italian speakers.
già already ieri yesterday
ancora still, yet fa ago
mai ever, never scorso last (last week, last month)
Oral Practice
Practice saying the following sentences out loud.
mangiare to eat
Marco, hai già mangiato la pizza? Mark, did you already eat the pizza?
Sì, ho già mangiato tutta la pizza. Yes, I already ate all the pizza.
pagare to pay
La tua amica ha pagato il conto ieri? Did your friend pay the bill yesterday?
No, non ha pagato il conto. No, she did not pay the bill.
CHAPTER 12 Using the Present Perfect Tense 231
232 Italian Demystifi ed
comprare to buy
Avete comprato un televisore Did you buy a television set two days
due giorni fa? ago?
No, abbiamo comprato una radio. No, we bought a radio.
imparare to learn
Quando hanno imparato l’italiano When did they learn Italian?
loro?
Hanno imparato l’italiano tre They learned Italian three years ago.
anni fa.
vendere to sell
Quando hai venduto la tua When did you sell your car, Dino?
macchina, Dino?
Ho venduto la macchina l’anno I sold the car last year.
scorso.
Anche loro hanno venduto Did they also sell their car?
la macchina?
Sì, hanno venduto la macchina Yes, they sold their car last month.
il mese scorso.
conoscere to know, meet
Dove avete conosciuto il Where did you meet the professor?
professore?
Abbiamo conosciuto il professore We met the professor in Italy.
in Italia.
fi nire to fi nish
Marco, hai fi nito di lavorare? Mark, did you fi nish working?
Sì, ho già fi nito di lavorare. Yes, I have already fi nished working.
dormire to sleep
Quanto tempo ha dormito ieri, Madam, how much time did you sleep
signora? yesterday?
Ho dormito tutta la giornata. I slept all day long.
preferire to prefer
E voi, che cosa avete preferito fare? And you, what did you prefer doing?
Abbiamo preferito studiare. We preferred studying.
capire to understand
I tuoi amici hanno capito la lezione? Did your friends understand the lesson?
No, non hanno capito la lezione. No, they did not understand the lesson.
Written Practice 1
Fill in the blanks with the present perfect forms of the indicated verbs.
cominciare to begin
1. Marco e Maria, a che ora a
studiare? Mark and Mary, at what time did you start studying?
presto. We began early.
2. E tu, Paolo, quando ? And you, Paul,
when did you begin?
Io tardi. I began late.
3. E loro, quando ? And when did they
begin?
Anche loro tardi. They also started
late.
ripetere to repeat
4. Dina, che cosa ? Dina, what did you
repeat?
Non niente. I did not repeat
anything.
5. E voi, che cosa ? And what did you
repeat?
Anche noi non niente. We also did
not repeat anything.
CHAPTER 12 Using the Present Perfect Tense 233
234 Italian Demystifi ed
6. E loro, che cosa ? And what did they
repeat?
Loro tutto. They repeated everything.
pulire to clean
7. Giovanni, già
la casa? John, did you already clean the house?
No, non ancora
la casa. No, I have not yet cleaned the house.
8. E voi, la macchina ieri? And did you
clean the car yesterday?
Sì, la macchina ieri sera. Yes, we
cleaned the car last night.
9. Anche i tuoi amici la casa? Did your
friends also clean the house?
Sì, i miei amici la casa. Yes, my
friends cleaned the house.
Present Perfect Tense with Essere
Most verbs are conjugated with avere in the compound tenses. However, there are
a number of verbs that are conjugated with the auxiliary verb essere.
You already know how to conjugate the verb essere and now you know how to
form the past participle of all three verb types. The only difference in this case is
that when using essere in a compound tense, the past participle agrees in number
and gender with the subject of the sentence. For example, here is how it works with
the verb arrivare (to arrive):
• The ending -o is used when the subject is masculine singular (arrivato).
• The ending -a is used when the subject is feminine singular (arrivata).
• The ending -i is used when the subject is masculine plural (arrivati).
• The ending -e is used when the subject is feminine plural (arrivate).
Here is the complete conjugation of the verb arrivare, using essere as the auxil-
iary in the present perfect tense:
arrivare to arrive
(io) sono arrivato/a I have arrived, I arrived, I did arrive
(tu) sei arrivato/a you (familiar) have arrived, you arrived, you did arrive
(Lei) è arrivato/a you (polite) have arrived, you arrived, you did arrive
(lui) è arrivato he has arrived, he arrived, he did arrive
(lei) è arrivata she has arrived, she arrived, she did arrive
(noi) siamo arrivati/e we have arrived, we arrived, we did arrive
(voi) siete arrivati/e you (familiar plural) have arrived, you arrived, you did arrive
(Loro) sono arrivati/e you (polite plural) have arrived, you arrived, you did arrive
(loro) sono arrivati/e they have arrived, they arrived, they did arrive
So how do you know when to use avere or when to use essere? The best learning
strategy is to assume that most verbs are conjugated with avere (which is true), and
then memorize the verbs that are conjugated with essere. Also, the verbs that use
essere are intransitive (that is, they do not take a direct object) and many of them
generally refer to some type of motion (going, arriving, staying, entering, etc.).
Below is a list of common verbs that are conjugated using essere in compound
tenses—these all have regular past participles. You have encountered most of them,
but take some time to memorize those you don’t know.
andare to go partire to leave
arrivare to arrive sembrare to seem
cadere to fall tornare to return
diventare to become uscire to go out
entrare to enter
Impersonal verbs are also all conjugated with essere. Impersonal verbs are those
that have only third person forms.
durare to last
Il fi lm è durato tre ore. The movie lasted three hours.
costare to cost
Quanto sono costate le mele? How much did the apples cost?
In addition, all refl exive and reciprocal verbs are conjugated with essere.
Io mi sono alzato tardi ieri. I got up late yesterday.
Loro si sono divertiti molto in Italia. They had a lot of fun in Italy.
Mia sorella si è svegliata presto ieri. My sister got up early yesterday.
CHAPTER 12 Using the Present Perfect Tense 235
236 Italian Demystifi ed
Le mie amiche non si sono My friends did not call each other.
chiamate.
Remember that third person verb forms are used in polite address. In this case,
the verb ending of the past participle must agree with the sex of the person you are
addressing or talking about.
Signor Verdi, è uscito ieri? Mr. Verdi, did you go out yesterday?
Signora Verdi, è uscita ieri? Mrs. Verdi, did you go out yesterday?
Oral Practice
Practice saying the following sentences out loud.
andare to go
Dove sei andato ieri, Marco? Where did you go yesterday, Mark?
Sono andato in centro. I went downtown.
E tu, Maria, dove sei andata? And where did you go, Mary?
Io sono andata al cinema. I went to the movies.
arrivare to arrive
Quando è arrivato tuo cugino When did your cousin arrive yesterday?
ieri?
È arrivato nel pomeriggio. He arrived in the afternoon.
E i tuoi amici, quando sono And when did your friends arrive?
arrivati?
Loro sono arrivati tardi. They arrived late.
uscire to go out
Marco e Maria, quando siete usciti? Mark and Mary, when did you go out?
Siamo usciti dopo cena. We went out after dinner.
tornare to return, go back
Le tue zie sono tornate in Italia? Did your aunts return to Italy?
Sì, sono tornate l’anno scorso. Yes, they went back last year.