Verbs: Present Perfect
L'hai fatto benissimo
To talk about the past in Italian, you need to do two things. First, you need to use the form of avere that matches who you're talking about.
| subject | verb (avere) |
| io I | ho have |
| tu you | hai have |
| lui / lei he / she | ha has |
| noi we | abbiamo have |
| voi you all | avete have |
| loro they | hanno have |
Then you'll change the next verb ending to ‑ato, ‑uto, or ‑ito.
Noi abbiamo trovato l'automobile.
We found the car.
Non ho potuto.
I could not.
Ho sentito una persona nella mia casa.
I heard a person in my house.
Usually, you'll use ‑ato for verbs that end in ‑are (like trovare), ‑uto for ‑ere verbs (like potere), and ‑ito for ‑ire verbs (like sentire).
Lui ha trovato i miei occhiali da sole.
He found my sunglasses.
Avere or essere?
Avere plus a verb is used to talk about the past; for example, hai parlato.
But for some verbs that talk about motion (like venire and andare), you'll use essere instead of avere.
But for some verbs that talk about motion (like venire and andare), you'll use essere instead of avere.
Sono andato allo stadio martedì sera.
I went to the stadium on Tuesday night.
Lui è venuto da solo.
He came alone.
Verbs that include extra little words, like mi sono ricordato, always use essere in the past.
Lui si è sentito bene.
He felt well.
Ti sei ricordato del compleanno di tuo padre.
You remembered your father's birthday.
Leave the past behind
Verbs that use essere have different endings depending on who is doing what. Their endings work just like the Italian adjectives that you have already seen.
Lui è venuto a tavola.
He came to the table.
Lei è venuta da sola.
She came alone.
I ragazzi sono andati da soli.
The boys went by themselves.
Le ragazze sono arrivate alla stazione.
The girls arrived at the station.
La fattoria è diventata un museo.
The farm has turned into a museum.