Learn how to choose the right auxiliary for compound tenses
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Intro |
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| Michael: How do you know if a verb takes essere or avere in a compound tense? |
| Ofelia: And how are these two words different? |
| Michael: At ItalianPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Sasha and her classmate are talking about what they did on the weekend. Sasha says, "I went to the movies." |
| Sasha Lee: Sono andata al cinema. |
| Dialogue |
| Sasha Lee: Sono andata al cinema. |
| Martina Moretti: E io ho cucinato con mia madre. |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Sasha Lee: Sono andata al cinema. |
| Michael: "I went to the movies." |
| Martina Moretti: E io ho cucinato con mia madre. |
| Michael: "And I cooked with my mother. " |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In Italian, when forming compound tenses such as the present perfect, or |
| Ofelia: passato prossimo, |
| Michael: you'll need an auxiliary verb. This is either "to be" |
| Ofelia: essere |
| Michael: or "to have" |
| Ofelia: avere. |
| Michael: In English, you don't have to make this choice, as you only need "to have." That's why deciding which auxiliary to use in Italian can be a bit difficult at first. Let's have a look at some rules that'll help you choose the right auxiliary. The first thing you need to remember is that transitive verbs always need |
| Ofelia: avere. |
| Michael: Let's see some examples. |
| Ofelia: Ho mangiato una mela. |
| Michael: "I ate an apple." Here, the main verb is |
| Ofelia: mangiare |
| Michael: "to eat," which is a transitive verb, meaning that it can have a direct object. Remember that you can easily guess whether a verb is transitive if you can answer the question "what?" or "who?" That's the case of "to eat": you can answer the question "eat what?" |
| Let's go back to the sample sentence, where the compound verb |
| Ofelia: ho mangiato |
| Michael: has the auxiliary verb |
| Ofelia: ho, which is a conjugated form of the verb avere. |
| Michael: Let's see another example with a transitive verb |
| Ofelia: Ho conosciuto Giorgio. |
| Michael: "I met Giorgio." Here, the main verb is |
| Ofelia: conoscere |
| Michael: "to meet" which is also transitive. |
| Michael: Reflexive verbs, on the other hand, always use |
| Ofelia: essere. |
| Michael: Let's hear an example: |
| Ofelia: Mi sono seduta sulla sedia. |
| Michael: "I sat down on the chair." Here, the main verb is |
| Ofelia: sedersi |
| Michael: "to sit down" which is reflexive. The auxiliary verb is |
| Ofelia: sono, which is a conjugated form of the verb essere. |
| Michael: Next are verbs in the passive form, which also use |
| Ofelia: essere. |
| Michael: Here's an example |
| Ofelia: La mela è stata mangiata. |
| Michael: "The apple has been eaten." The compound verb is |
| Ofelia: è stata mangiata |
| Michael: which means "has been eaten" and is a passive form of |
| Ofelia: mangiare |
| Michael: "to eat." As you can see, the auxiliary verb is |
| Ofelia: è stata, which is a conjugated form of the verb essere. |
| Michael: Last, we'll have a look at intransitive verbs. Unfortunately, there isn't a regular pattern because some use |
| Ofelia: essere |
| Michael: and others |
| Ofelia: avere. |
| Michael: Although there are no set rules, here are some things you can look out for. For example, intransitive verbs of movement always use |
| Ofelia: essere. |
| Michael: For example, |
| Ofelia: andare |
| Michael: "to go" and |
| Ofelia: arrivare |
| Michael:"to arrive." Here are two sample sentences: |
| Ofelia: Ieri sono andata a Venezia. |
| Michael: "Yesterday I went to Venice." |
| Ofelia: Siete arrivati a casa tardi. |
| Michael: "You arrived home late." In both of these sentences, the auxiliary verb is a conjugated form of |
| Ofelia: essere. |
| Michael: On the other hand, intransitive verbs of movement, where the destination doesn't need to be mentioned, always use |
| Ofelia: avere. |
| Michael: Some examples are |
| Ofelia: camminare |
| Michael: "to walk" or |
| Ofelia: viaggiare |
| Michael: "to travel." Let's see two sample sentences: |
| Ofelia: Ho camminato tanto. |
| Michael: "I walked a lot." |
| Ofelia: Ho viaggiato in treno. |
| Michael: "I traveled by train." In both of these sentences, the auxiliary verb is a conjugated form of |
| Ofelia: avere. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: Now, let's take a closer look at the dialogue and see if we can find the rules we just listed. Do you remember how Sasha says "I went to the movies?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Ofelia as Sasha Lee: Sono andata al cinema. |
| Michael: In this sentence, the verb is |
| Ofelia: sono andata |
| Michael: which translates to "I went" and is a present perfect. Its auxiliary verb is |
| Ofelia: sono |
| Michael: which is a conjugated form of the "to be" verb or |
| Ofelia: essere. |
| Michael: This is because "to go" or |
| Ofelia: andare |
| Michael: is an intransitive verb that indicates movement. |
| [Recall 2] |
| Michael: Now, let's take a look at our second sentence. Do you remember how Sasha's classmate says "And I cooked with my mother?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Ofelia as Martina Moretti: E io ho cucinato con mia madre. |
| Michael: In this sentence, the verb is |
| Ofelia: ho cucinato |
| Michael: which means "I cooked" and is also a present perfect. The auxiliary verb is |
| Ofelia: ho |
| Michael: which is a conjugated form of the "to have" verb or |
| Ofelia: avere. |
| Michael: As you might have already guessed, this is because "to cook" or |
| Ofelia: cucinare |
| Michael: is a transitive verb, and transitive verbs always have |
| Ofelia: avere |
| Michael: as an auxiliary verb in compound tenses. |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, you've learned some useful rules to choose the right auxiliary verb when using compound verbs in Italian. Let's recap. All transitive verbs in the active voice use |
| Ofelia: avere. |
| Michael: Reflexive verbs and intransitive verbs that indicate movement always use |
| Ofelia: essere. |
| Michael: Intransitive verbs of movement, where the destination doesn't need to be mentioned, always use |
| Ofelia: avere. |
| Expansion |
| Michael: One last thing. |
| Ofelia: There are some cases where both essere and avere are acceptable. |
| Michael: This mainly happens with verbs about the weather, such as |
| Ofelia: piovere |
| Michael: "to rain," or |
| Ofelia: nevicare |
| Michael: "to snow." So, for example, to mean "it has rained," you can either say |
| Ofelia: è piovuto |
| Michael: or |
| Ofelia: ha piovuto. |
| Michael: They're both correct! |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Ofelia: A presto! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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