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When do past participles agree in Italian compound tenses?

By: Debora Chellini Fri Aug 30 2024

Verbs

Whether and how a in an Italian compound tense with one of the in the sentence will depend on whether the verb in question is formed using avere(to have) or essere(to be). Here are the basic rules for when that past participle will need to agree:

In verbs with essere, the participle agrees with the
In verbs with avere, the participle usually does not agree (it is “invariable”), but the participle will agree with a if one is used.

Recall that an Italian compound tense has two parts: an auxiliary verb (avere or essere) and a past participle. These two parts are used to form several Italian tenses, including the passato prossimo(perfect), the trapassato prossimo(past perfect), futuro anteriore(future perfect), and trapassato remoto(past anterior). The agreement rules are the same in all of these compound tenses!

In this post, we’ll talk about what those two rules mean, and we’ll look at some examples of past participle agreement in verbs essere and avere. Let’s get into it!

What are the agreement endings for past participles in Italian?

The endings for Italian past participles are given in the table below. Note that the and of the noun are what will help you pick.

Endings	Agrees with a noun that is…
-o	masculine & singular This is also the default form if the participle is“invariable” (doesn’t agree with any noun)
-a	feminine & singular
-i	masculine / mixed gender & plural
-e	feminine (only) & plural

These endings are used with all participles, but the noun that a participle agrees with (if it agrees at all) will depend on whether the verb is formed with essere or avere, as well as on some other factors. Let’s learn more!

Tip

To learn or review why some verbs use essere while others use avere, check out our post on how you can choose between avere and essere!

When does the past participle agree in verbs with ‘essere’?

In verbs with essere, the past participle always agrees with the of the sentence.

Subject Gender	Singular Subject	Plural Subject
Feminine	Anna è andata al cinema. Anna has gone to the cinema.	Le bambine sono corse al parco. The little girls have run to the park.
Masculine	Paolo è andato alla partita. Paolo has gone to the soccer match.	I bambini sono rimasti a casa. The children have remained at home.
Mixed	-	Paolo ed Anna sono ritornati a casa tardi. Paolo and Anna have come back home late.

Check out our summary table!

When does the past participle agree in verbs with ‘avere’?

In verbs with avere, the past participle is usually invariable → it always ends in -o:

Subject	Singular Gender	Plural
Feminine	Anna ha mangiato una mela. Anna has eaten an apple.	Le mie sorelle hanno cantato una nuova canzone. My sisters have sung a new song.
Masculine	Paolo ha bevuto un succo. Paolo has drunk juice.	I miei fratelli mi hanno comprato un regalo. My brothers have bought me a present.
Mixed	-	Gli attori e le attrici hanno parlato del loro nuovo film. Actors and actresses have talked about their new film.

However, there is one circumstance where the past participle instead agrees with the direct object of the sentence! This happens when the verb is accompanied by an unstressed direct object pronoun. Let's take a quick look here:

Ending	Example
-o masculine & singular	ll suo ultimo cd? L’ho ascoltato. His new cd? I’ve listened to it.
-a feminine & singular	Lucia? L’ho vista ieri. Lucia? I saw her yesterday.
-i masculine & plural	I pomodori? Li ho già presi. The tomatoes? I’ve already got them.
-e feminine & plural	Quelle poltrone? Le ho appena acquistate. Those armchairs? I’ve just purchased them.

When you are using a direct object pronoun, the past participle behaves like an Italian adjective and agrees with the noun it modifies: the direct object.

To sum up

In Italian compound tenses, like the passato prossimo, the past particle may change depending on the auxiliary verb used.

With auxiliary essere, the past participle agrees with the gender and number of the subject
With auxiliary avere, typically, the past participle is invariable, except when it’s accompanied by a direct object pronoun.

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