Italian All-in-One For Dummies (167 page)

You may have noticed that
vivere
appears in both
Table 1-2
and
1-3
. Well, that's no mistake. You can use
vivere
with both
avere
and
essere.
You use
avere
when
vivere
is followed by a direct object, as in
Matusalemme ha vissuto una lunga vita
(
Methuselah has lived a long life
); you use
essere
when you specify space, location, or duration, such as
È vissuto a Milano e a Torino
(
He has lived in Milan and Turin
) or
È vissuta fino a 95 anni
(
She has lived 95 years
).

You can also use past participles as adjectives, as long as they agree in number and gender with what they're describing. For example,
la casa preferita
(
the favorite house
) is feminine and singular, so
preferita
is as well.
Il libro preferito
(
the favorite book
) is masculine and singular, so
preferito
reflects that. Speaking of an enthusiastic audience at a concert, the late Luciano Pavarotti urged the conductor to give an encore, and said
Si sono proprio riscaldati
(
They're really warmed up
).
Riscaldati
(from
riscaldare
[
to warm up
]) refers to members of the audience and is masculine and plural.

Auxiliary verbs: Avere and essere

To activate the past participles discussed in the preceding section, you need an auxiliary or helping verb, either
avere
(
to have
)
or
essere
(
to be
) conjugated in the present tense.

You use
avere
with
transitive verbs
— verbs that can (though don't always) take a direct object; they “transit” action from the subject to a direct object.

You use
essere
with verbs that can't take a direct object, called
intransitive verbs,
which are frequently verbs of motion, of coming and going, of leaving and returning.

Transiting action with avere

Direct objects answer questions that ask
who
or
what.
For example:

Ho trovato la chiave
(
I found the key
). What did I find?
The key.

Lui ha scritto una lettera d'amore
(
He wrote a love letter
). What did he write?
A love letter
.

Ho visto gli studenti
(
I saw the students
). Who did I see?
The students.

Think literally for a moment, and the conjugation with
avere
will make perfect sense.
Ho
(
I have
) +
trovato
(
found
);
I have found.
What did I find?
La chiave. Lui ha
(
he has
) +
scritto
(
written
);
he has written.
What has he written?
Una lettera d'amore. Ho
(
I have
) +
visto
(
seen
);
I have seen.
Who have I seen?
Gli studenti.
These three verbs answer the question
what
or
who
and direct the subjects' actions through the verbs to direct objects.

Note:
Sometimes the direct object isn't stated but is understood. In this case, you still use
avere
to form the present perfect. The most commonly used verbs with unstated direct objects are
parlare
(
to speak
)
because you speak speech,
dormire
(
to sleep
) because you sleep sleep,
sognare
(
to dream
) because you dream dreams, and
camminare
(
to walk
) because you, well, walk the walk.

Verbs with built-in prepositions in English, such as
cercare
(
to look for
),
aspettare
(
to wait for
), and
pagare
(
to pay for
), take direct object pronouns in Italian (though in English they usually take indirect object pronouns).

Moving with essere

Verbs of motion (going, coming, arriving, leaving, becoming) or of stopping motion (staying) don't take direct objects. They conjugate with
essere
rather than
avere,
and the subject and past participle agree in number and gender. Again, think literally for a moment.
Lui è
(
he is
) +
andato
(
gone
)
al cinema.
(
He went to the cinema.
) Or
lei è
(
she is
) +
andata
(
gone
)
al cinema.
(
She went to the cinema.
)

Note:
All
reflexive verbs conjugate in the present perfect with
essere.
See
Chapter 2
in Book V for more about reflexive verbs in the present perfect.

Recognizing that some verbs use both avere and essere

Some verbs “cross-conjugate,” meaning they can use either
essere
or
avere
as a helper. Their meanings tell you which helper to use. For example, take
cambiare
(
to change
). It means one thing to say
ho cambiato casa
(
I changed houses
)
(
I moved
) and quite another to say
sono cambiato
(
I have changed
) (Literally:
I am changed
).

Here's another example with
finire
(
to finish
).
Ho finito il libro
means
I finished/have finished the book
, but
la commedia è finita
means
the play is over
and
lui è finito in prigione
translates to
he ended up in prison
. The helping verb changes the meaning and function of the verb's past tense.

You don't really want to say
sono finito
because it doesn't mean
I'm finished/I'm done in
. Instead, it means
there is no hope for me,
or, by extension,
I'm dead
.

Conjugating verbs in the present perfect with avere

Putting a verb into the present perfect when the helper is
avere
involves three steps.

1. Form a past participle from the infinitive (for example,
mangiare
becomes
mangiato
and
preferire
becomes
preferito
).

2. Conjugate
avere
in the present indicative tense (see
Chapter 2
in Book IV) so that it reflects the subject (
io ho
,
tu hai
, and so on).