Professor Dave here, let’s learn how to use passato prossimo with essere.
We learned about the passato prossimo with the verb avere, but sometimes we will need
to do the same thing with another helping verb, essere, so let’s learn how to do that
now, as well as how to know which auxiliary verb to use.
Just as before, the first part will be the present indicative of the auxiliary verb,
and the second part will be the past participle of the main verb.
And while transitive verbs use avere, intransitive verbs use essere.
An example of such an intransitive verb would be andare, which as we know, means to go.
Let’s go through the conjugation for andare in the passato prossimo now.
Instead of the present tense io vado, which means I go, we will say io sono andato or
andata, which means I have gone, or I went, with the last letter depending on gender.
The reason that we have to modify the end of the past participle depending on gender
and number is that in the passato prossimo, verbs conjugated with essere will have the
past participle acting like an adjective.
So this is a bit different from using passato prossimo with avere, where the participle
is invariant, and only the auxiliary verb changes.
So how do we know when to use avere, and when to use essere, when constructing sentences
with passato prossimo?
The most common verbs requiring essere include verbs of movement, like:
However, the exceptions to this rule are passeggiare, camminare, and viaggiare.
These will use avere.
More verbs that require essere are verbs of being, like stare, rimanere, and durare.
Situations where a verb indicates a change in the subject also require essere.
This happens for reflexive and reciprocal verbs as well.
That’s a lot of stuff to remember, so let’s look at some examples.
Don’t worry, you’re doing just fine, so let’s check comprehension.