Key takeaways
- Wikipedia's article on Italian conjugation uses the passato prossimo for single actions or events and changes of state.
- The imperfetto covers habits, repeated actions with no specific time, ongoing or interrupted actions, and past states including weather, time and age.
- The passato prossimo is avere or essere in the present plus a past participle: ho mangiato, sono andato.
- The imperfetto adds -vo, -vi, -va, -vamo, -vate, -vano to the stem and thematic vowel; essere (ero, eri, era) is the one irregular verb.
- Some verbs change meaning by tense: sapevo la verità is 'I knew the truth', ho saputo la verità is 'I found out the truth'.
Passato prossimo vs imperfetto is a choice Italian asks you to make almost every time you talk about the past. In English, "I went to school by bike" can describe one trip or, with the right context, a regular habit. Italian splits them: the passato prossimo for an event that happened and finished, the imperfetto for what used to happen, what was going on, and how things were. This comparison sets out what each tense is for, how each is built, and how to choose when you are telling a story.
Two tenses, two kinds of past
Wikipedia's article on Italian conjugation gives the clearest division.
| Passato prossimo | Imperfetto | |
|---|---|---|
| Used for | single actions or events; changes of state | habits; repeated actions with no specific time; ongoing or interrupted actions; past states |
| Example | stamattina sono andato a scuola, "I went to school this morning" | andavo in bicicletta a scuola ogni mattina, "I used to go to school by bike every morning" |
| Change of state vs repetition | si è arrabbiato quando gliel'ho detto, "he got angry when I told him" | si arrabbiava ogni volta che qualcuno glielo diceva, "he got angry every time someone told him" |
The last row shows the trap. Both English sentences say "got angry", but Italian picks the passato prossimo for the one occasion and the imperfetto for the repeated pattern.
Wikipedia lists three uses of the imperfect: repeated or habitual actions in the past; ongoing actions, including ones that are eventually interrupted; and states and conditions in the past, specifically including weather, time and age. Its Italian grammar article glosses facevo as both "I used to do" and "I was doing", which captures the first two in one form.
How each tense is built
The passato prossimo is a compound tense: the present of avere or essere plus a past participle. Wikipedia's tables give ho fatto, "I have done" or "I did". Regular participles end in -ato, -uto or -ito: parlato, creduto, finito. Many common verbs are irregular: fatto, detto, letto, preso, visto.
Which auxiliary a verb takes is its own topic. In short, Wikipedia says all transitive verbs and most intransitive verbs use avere, while essere goes with verbs of motion such as andare, venire and arrivare, with essere itself and with reflexive verbs. Essere vs avere works through the rules and the agreement they trigger.
The imperfetto is a simple tense. Wikipedia describes it as the stem plus the thematic vowel plus v, then endings: -vo, -vi, -va, -vamo, -vate, -vano.
| parlare | credere | finire | essere | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| io | parlavo | credevo | finivo | ero |
| tu | parlavi | credevi | finivi | eri |
| lui / lei | parlava | credeva | finiva | era |
| noi | parlavamo | credevamo | finivamo | eravamo |
| voi | parlavate | credevate | finivate | eravate |
| loro | parlavano | credevano | finivano | erano |
Wikipedia says essere is the only irregular verb in the imperfect. Verbs with shortened infinitives use their longer stems: dire gives dicevo, fare gives facevo, bere gives bevevo.
When one verb means two things
Aspect can change what a verb means, not only when. Wikipedia's example is sapere, "to know":
- Sapevo la verità: "I knew the truth", having the knowledge.
- Ho saputo la verità: "I found out the truth", the moment of getting it.
The imperfect describes the state; the passato prossimo marks the change into it. The same logic is why the passato prossimo handles "he got angry" on one occasion: it is a change of state at a point in time.
There is also a progressive version of the imperfect. Wikipedia's article on the imperfect notes that parlavo can also be said stavo parlando, using the imperfect of stare plus the gerund, and compares the difference to English "I eat" and "I am eating".
Telling a short story, tense by tense
Here is a five-verb story, with the reason for each choice from the uses above.
Ieri pioveva ed ero stanco. Leggevo quando è arrivato Marco, e siamo usciti insieme.
"Yesterday it was raining and I was tired. I was reading when Marco arrived, and we went out together."
- pioveva: weather, so imperfetto.
- ero: a state (being tired), so imperfetto.
- leggevo: an ongoing action that gets interrupted, so imperfetto.
- è arrivato: the single event that interrupts it, so passato prossimo, with essere because arrivare is a verb of motion.
- siamo usciti: a single completed event, so passato prossimo; uscire is another verb of motion, so it takes essere and the participle usciti agrees with "we".
The tally is three imperfetti for the background and two passati prossimi for the events, 3 + 2 = 5 verbs. The imperfetti describe the background and the passati prossimi carry the events, matching the uses Wikipedia lists.
Where the passato remoto fits
Italian has a third past, the passato remoto (feci, "I did"). Wikipedia's article on the preterite describes it as a past for an action completed far in the past, against the imperfetto's repeated or continuous past and the passato prossimo's recent completed past. It adds that colloquial use varies by region: northern Italians and Sardinians use the passato prossimo for any completed action, while southern Italians may use the passato remoto even for recent events. This comparison sticks to the passato prossimo and imperfetto, the pair that everyday spoken Italian in the north relies on.
For a language that builds aspect into the verb itself, compare Russian verb aspect.
Practising the past tenses
Learn Italian for Beginners teaches common tenses through practical examples, and its core path includes a unit on past events. It is one of our language-learning apps. For the present-tense endings both pasts build on, read Italian verb conjugation basics.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
When do you use the passato prossimo in Italian?
Do you use the imperfetto for weather and age in Italian?
What is the difference between sapevo and ho saputo?
Is the passato remoto used instead of the passato prossimo?
Sources
- Italian conjugation (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia — accessed
- Imperfect (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia — accessed
- Preterite (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia — accessed
- Italian grammar (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia — accessed
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