Basic Italian: A Grammar and Workbook

Implied here is something like (Ora ti ho visto, ma prima) non ti avevo visto [i.e.
I’ve seen you now, but I hadn’t before].

Implied here is something like Non ti avevo sentito (ma ora ti ho sentito) [i.e. I
hadn’t heard you before, but I have now].

Forming the past perfect

3 The past perfect in Italian is formed with the imperfect indicative of avere
or essere (auxiliary verbs) followed by the past participle of the verb. Here are
two examples, one using avere and the other essere:

4 As regards agreement of the past participle, the past perfect obeys exactly
the same rules as the present perfect: if the auxiliary is avere the past parti-
ciple does not change; but if it is essere the past participle behaves like an
adjective, agreeing in gender and number with the subject of the verb, as in
these examples:

Scusa, non ti avevo visto! È molto

che aspetti?

Sorry, I didn’t see you. Have you been

waiting long?

Scusa, non ti avevo sentito. Sorry, I didn’t hear you.

Imperfect of avere

(io) avevo

(tu) avevi

(lui/lei) aveva

(noi) avevamo

(voi) avevate

(loro) avevano

Past participle of scrivere

scritto

scritto

scritto

scritto

scritto

scritto

I had written

you had written

he/she/it had written

we had written

you had written

they had written

Imperfect of essere

(io) ero

(tu) eri

(lui/lei) era

(noi) eravamo

(voi) eravate

(loro) erano

Past participle of andare

andato/andata

andato/andata

andato/andata

andati/andate

andati/andate

andati/andate

I had gone

you had gone

he/she/it had gone

we had gone

you had gone

they had gone

Avere

Livia aveva guardato la televisione.

Avevi comprato il pane?

Aveva prenotato, Signor Ferro?

Livia had watched television.

Had you bought the bread?

Had you booked, Mr Ferro?