Italian Grammar: Compound Tenses

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Italian language » Italian Grammar » Compound Tenses

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

Italian Compound Tenses

Italian features a set of compound tenses, based either on avere (to have) or essere (to be). The three compound tenses are:

English tense	Italian Tense	English	Italian

Recent Past	Passato Prossimo	have done	ho fatto
Recent Pluperfect	Trapassato Prossimo	had done(*)	avevo fatto
Remote Pluperfect	Trapassato Remoto	had done	ebbi fatto
Future Perfect	Futuro Anteriore	will have done	avrò fatto

The choice of whether to use avere or essere depends on the type of verb:

●	Non-reflexive transitive verbs (i.e. verbs that take a direct object) use avere
●	Intransitive verbs (verbs that do not take a direct object), verbs of motion, and reflexive verbs (even if those verbs are based on transitive verbs) take essere

(*) The Trapassato Prossimo (Recent Pluperfect) and the Trapassato Remoto (Remote Pluperfect) are separate tenses in Italian though not in English.

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