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      • Trapassato Prossimo: The Italian Past Perfect Tense

      Trapassato Prossimo: The Italian Past Perfect Tense

      • Date May 23, 2016
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      The trapassato prossimo is the Italian equivalent of the English past perfect tense. Much like in English, the Italian past perfect is used to express an action that had been completed before a second action was also completed. The trapassato prossimo is a compound tense made by combining the imperfetto (imperfect) of either avere (to have) or essere (to be) with the past participle of the main verb. This is similar to the construction of the past perfect in English, which takes the form of “had + past participle.”

      Conjugating Trapassato Prossimo

      Trapassato prossimo is a compound tense constructed of “imperfect of avere/ essere + past participle.” As with other compound tenses, the auxiliary that the main verb takes in trapassato prossimo is determined by the type of verb being used. Transitive verbs take avere, and intransitive verbs take essere. Below is the trapassato prossimo of three transitive and three intransitive verbs, one –are, -ere, and –ere example for each category.

       

      Transitive (“avere”) Verb Examples

      Subject

      Pronoun

      Lavare

      to wash

      Battere

      to beat

      Gradire

      to accept

      io

       

      avevo lavato avevo battuto

       

      avevo gradito
      tu

       

      avevi lavato avevi battuto

       

      avevi gradito
      lui/lei

       

      aveva lavato aveva battuto

       

      aveva gradito
      noi avevamo lavato avevamo battuto

       

      avevamo gradito

       

      voi

       

      avevate lavato avevate battuto

       

      avevate gradito
      loro

       

      avevano lavato avevano battuto

       

      avevano gradito

       

      Intransitive (“essere”) Verb Examples

      Subject

      Pronoun

      Diventare

       to become

      Cadere

      to fall

      Partire

      to leave

      io ero diventato (a) ero caduto (a)

       

      ero partito (a)
      tu eri diventato (a) eri caduto (a)

       

      eri partito (a)
      lui/lei era diventato (a) era caduto (a)

       

      era partito (a)
      noi eravamo diventati (e) eravamo caduti (e)

       

      eravamo partiti (e)
      voi eravate diventati (e) eravate caduti (e) eravate partiti (e)

       

      loro erano diventati (e) erano caduti (e)

       

      erano partiti (e)

       

      Tag:atlanta, ga, georgia, island, italian, italian grammar, italian language, italian past perfect, language, language island, learn italian, past perfect, past perfect tense italian

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      Imperfetto: The Italian Imperfect Tense
      May 23, 2016

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