Learn how to form the Italian present perfect verb tense
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Consuelo: Hello everyone! I'm Consuelo, and welcome to ItalianPOD101. |
| Marco: With us, you'll learn to speak Italian with fun and effective lessons. |
| Consuelo: We also provide you with cultural insights |
| Marco: and tips you won't find in a textbook... |
| Marco: Today we will review the usage of the auxiliary verbs essere and avere in the passato prossimo tense. This conversation takes place at Martina's place |
| Consuelo: And it's between Paolo, John, and Martina. They are friends; therefore, they will be speaking informally. |
| Marco: |
| Consuelo: |
| Consuelo: Listeners...I have a question... |
| Marco: A question? |
| Consuelo: Yep, I want to know when was the last time you commented? |
| Marco: Ahh, yes! Great question. |
| Consuelo: Stop by ItalianPOD101.com, leave us a comment or just say hi. |
| Marco: haha...okay, you heard Consuelo. |
| Marco: Let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| John: (bisbigliando a Paolo) Ora, vai, diglielo! |
| Paolo: (bisbigliando a John) Ora vado. (si avvicina a Martina e schiarisce la voce) Ehm, Martina, sai c’è questa canzone bellissima che volevo farti sentire, potresti venire un attimo di là? |
| Martina: Paolo, ma siamo ad un party! Divertiti, dai, penseremo dopo alla canzone. |
| Paolo: Va bene. |
| John: (bisbigliando dietro Paolo) Non mollare, insisti! |
| Paolo: Ho pensato che. Ho pensato che volevo farti vedere una cosa di là. |
| Martina: Cosa? |
| Paolo: Ehm, non posso dirtelo, è un affare di sicurezza nazionale. |
| Martina: Eh? Sicurezza nazionale? Ma sei ubriaco? |
| Paolo: No, per niente. Vieni di là un minuto. |
| Martina: (scocciata) Ok, ok, cosa sarà mai? Ancora il tuo lavoro? |
| Paolo: Entra e vedi di persona. |
| Martina: Wow! E ora questo cos’è? |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| John: (bisbigliando a Paolo) Ora, vai, diglielo! |
| Paolo: (bisbigliando a John) Ora vado. (si avvicina a Martina e schiarisce la voce) Ehm, Martina, sai c’è questa canzone bellissima che volevo farti sentire, potresti venire un attimo di là? |
| Martina: Paolo, ma siamo ad un party! Divertiti, dai, penseremo dopo alla canzone. |
| Paolo: Va bene. |
| John: (bisbigliando dietro Paolo) Non mollare, insisti! |
| Paolo: Ho pensato che. Ho pensato che volevo farti vedere una cosa di là. |
| Martina: Cosa? |
| Paolo: Ehm, non posso dirtelo, è un affare di sicurezza nazionale. |
| Martina: Eh? Sicurezza nazionale? Ma sei ubriaco? |
| Paolo: No, per niente. Vieni di là un minuto. |
| Martina: (scocciata) Ok, ok, cosa sarà mai? Ancora il tuo lavoro? |
| Paolo: Entra e vedi di persona. |
| Martina: Wow! E ora questo cos’è? |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| John: (bisbigliando a Paolo) Ora, vai, diglielo! |
| Marco: (whispering to Paolo) Now! Come on, tell her! |
| Paolo: (bisbigliando a John) Ora vado. (si avvicina a Martina e schiarisce la voce) Ehm, Martina, sai c’è questa canzone bellissima che volevo farti sentire, potresti venire un attimo di là? |
| Marco: (whispering to John) I’m going. (he gets close to Martina and clears his voice) Ahem, Martina, you know there’s this beautiful song I want you to listen to, could you come in the other room for a second? |
| Martina: Paolo, ma siamo ad un party! Divertiti, dai, penseremo dopo alla canzone. |
| Marco: Paolo, but we’re at a party! Have fun, come on, we’ll think about the song later. |
| Paolo: Va bene. |
| Marco: All right. |
| John: (bisbigliando dietro Paolo) Non mollare, insisti! |
| Marco: (whispering behind Paolo) Don’t give up, insist! |
| Paolo: Ho pensato che. Ho pensato che volevo farti vedere una cosa di là. |
| Marco: I thought that…I thought that I wanted you to see something in the other room. |
| Martina: Cosa? |
| Marco: What? |
| Paolo: Ehm, non posso dirtelo, è un affare di sicurezza nazionale. |
| Marco: Ahem, I can’t tell you. It’s a matter of national security. |
| Martina: Eh? Sicurezza nazionale? Ma sei ubriaco? |
| Marco: Eh? National security? Are you drunk? |
| Paolo: No, per niente. Vieni di là un minuto. |
| Marco: Not at all. Come over there for a minute. |
| Martina: (scocciata) Ok, ok, cosa sarà mai? Ancora il tuo lavoro? |
| Marco: (annoyed) Okay, okay, what would that ever be? Your job again? |
| Paolo: Entra e vedi di persona. |
| Marco: Enter and see it yourself. |
| Martina: Wow! E ora questo cos’è? |
| Marco: Wow! And now what’s this? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Marco: Cristiano, let’s talk about parties and alcohol in Italy! |
| Cristiano: Yes, lately the situation has become rather strict. |
| Marco: What happened? |
| Cristiano: A new law recently further lowered the percentage of alcohol one can drink before driving. |
| Marco: Wow, that looks strict. |
| Cristiano: Yes it is. But it’s also good as it helps lower the number of car accidents caused by drunk drivers. |
| Marco: So how can youngsters keep going out while also driving safely? |
| Cristiano: Most of the time, we decide to rotate the driver every night, in other words, which one of us should stay sober. |
| Marco: I wonder what happens on prom nights and stuff like that! |
| Cristiano: Ouch, yeah, that’s tricky! |
| Marco: I’m sure a lot of parents or elder brothers and sisters try to help out! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| : The first word we shall see is: |
| Consuelo: avvicinarsi [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to come close, approach |
| Consuelo: avvicinarsi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: avvicinarsi [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: schiarire [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to clear |
| Consuelo: schiarire [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: schiarire [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: pensare [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to think, believe |
| Consuelo: pensare [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: pensare [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: bisbigliare [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to whisper |
| Consuelo: bisbigliare [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: bisbigliare [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: sicurezza [natural native speed] |
| Marco: security, safety |
| Consuelo: sicurezza [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: sicurezza [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: ubriacarsi [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to get drunk |
| Consuelo: ubriacarsi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: ubriacarsi [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Marco: Let's have a closer look at the usuage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Marco: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases we learned in this lesson. The word we’ll look at is.... |
| Cris: ""bisbigliare"" |
| Marco: ""to whisper."" |
| Cris: Yes, Marco! In Italian, there are a lot of ways to say ""whisper."" |
| Marco: Could you give an example? |
| Cris: Well, aside from ""bisbigliare,"" we have ""mormorare,"" ""sussurrare,"" and ""parlare sottovoce."" |
| Marco: And every of them could be translated as ""to whisper."" |
| Cris: Yes, but the verb we use changes according to the situation. For example, we say ""mormorare alle spalle"" |
| Marco: ""to talk behind someone’s back."" |
| Cris: We could never use ""sussurrare"" for that. |
| Marco: Okay, we will try to remember it! Thanks, Cristiano! |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Cristiano: Let’s take a look at today’s lesson. |
| Marco: The focus of this lesson is on the usage of the auxiliary verbs |
| Cris: ""essere"" |
| Marco: and |
| Cris: ""avere"" |
| Marco: in the ""passato prossimo"" tense. |
| The ""passato prossimo"" tense is realized by using the present form of the auxiliary verb, conjugated according to the person it refers to, followed by the past participle of the main verb. |
| Cris: Subject + auxiliary verb (present tense of either ""essere"" or ""avere"") + main verb (past participle) |
| Marco: Whenever a verb requires the auxiliary ""essere,"" its past participle has to be conjugated according to the gender and number of the subject it refers to. For example… |
| Cris: ""Marco è tornato (singular masculine) a casa."" |
| Marco: ""Marco came back home."" |
| Cris: ""Luisa è stata (singular feminine) in Grecia."" |
| Marco: ""Luisa has been to Greece."" |
| Cris: ""Le ragazze sono partite (plural feminine) ieri."" |
| Marco: ""The girls left yesterday."" |
| Verbs requiring the auxiliary ""avere"" do not change their ending vowels. For instance... |
| Cris: ""Antonio ha pensato di comprare una nuova macchina."" |
| Marco: ""Antonio thought of buying a new car."" |
| Cris: ""Maria ha perso le chiavi."" |
| Marco: ""Maria lost the keys."" |
| Cris: ""Elisa e Roberta hanno visto un film."" |
| Marco: ""Elisa and Roberta watched a movie."" |
| Marco: Note that when used as main verbs, ""essere"" and ""avere"" require their respective present forms as auxiliary verbs. The following reference boards display, respectively, the ""passato prossimo"" of the verbs ""essere"" (""to be"") (The plural persons are traditionally presented in the plural masculine form, ending with the vowel ""i."") and ""avere"" (""to have""). |
| Cris: ""Passato prossimo"" |
| Cris: ""essere"" |
| Marco: ""to be"" |
| Cris: ""Io sono stato"" |
| Marco: ""I have been""/""was"" |
| Cris: ""Tu sei stato"" |
| Marco: ""You have been""/""were"" |
| Cris: ""Lui è stato"" |
| Marco: ""He has been""/""was"" |
| Cris: ""Lei è stato"" |
| Marco: ""She has been""/""was"" |
| Cris: ""Noi siamo stati"" |
| Marco: ""We have been""/""were"" |
| Cris: ""Voi siete stati"" |
| Marco: ""You have been""/""were"" |
| Cris: ""Loro sono stati"" |
| Marco: ""They have been""/""were"" |
| Cris: ""Passato prossimo"" |
| Cris: ""avere"" |
| Marco: ""to have"" |
| Cris: ""Io ho avuto"" |
| Marco: ""I have had""/""had"" |
| Cris: ""Tu hai avuto"" |
| Marco: ""You have had""/""had"" |
| Cris: ""Lui/lei ha avuto"" |
| Marco: ""He/she/it has had""/""had"" |
| Cris: ""Noi abbiamo avuto"" |
| Marco: ""We have had""/""had"" |
| Cris: ""Voi avete avuto"" |
| Marco: ""You have had""/""had"" |
| Cris: ""Loro hanno avuto"" |
| Marco: ""They have had""/""had"" |
| Marco: Although there are some guidelines regarding what main verbs require the auxiliary ""essere,"" there isn’t any proper, reliable rule. In case you do not have the opportunity to refer to a dictionary, the following list provides you with the most important guidelines to follow when deciding what auxiliary verb is to be used with Italian main verbs. |
| Cris: Use the auxiliary ""essere"" when using |
| Marco: verbs that express physical movement from or to a specific point. For example… |
| Cris: ""andare"" |
| Marco: ""to go"" |
| Cris: ""tornare"" |
| Marco: ""to come back"" |
| Cris: ""partire"" |
| Marco: ""to leave"" |
| Marco: reflexive and pronominal verbs. For example… |
| Cris: ""lavarsi"" |
| Marco: ""to clean oneself"" |
| Cris: ""morire"" |
| Marco: ""to die"" |
| Cris: ""nascere"" |
| Marco: ""to be born"" |
| Cris: ""diventare"" |
| Marco: ""to become"" |
| Cris: ""vivere"" |
| Marco: ""to live"" |
| Cris: ""succedere"" |
| Marco: ""to happen,"" ""to take place"" |
| Cris: ""sembrare"" |
| Marco: ""to seem"" |
| Cris: ""piacere"" |
| Marco: ""to like"" |
| Marco: Use the auxiliary ""avere"" with all the other verbs. |
Outro |
| Marco: That just about does it for today. |
| Consuelo: Ready to test what you just learned? |
| Marco: Make this lesson's vocabulary stick by using lesson specific flashcards in the learning center. |
| Consuelo: There is a reason everyone uses flashcards... |
| Marco: They work... |
| Consuelo: They really do help memorization. |
| Marco: You can get the flashcards for this lesson at |
| Consuelo: ItalianPod101.com. |
| Marco: Okay.... |
| Marco: Buona sera a tutti! |
| Consuelo: A presto!" |
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