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Italian passato prossimo: essere or avere?
The compound past tense with essere/avere and past participle agreement.
In Italian: Passato Prossimo
The passato prossimo is the past Italians actually speak in: an auxiliary in the present — essere or avere — followed by the past participle. Ho mangiato. Sono andato.
Choosing the auxiliary is the whole difficulty. Most verbs take avere. Verbs of motion and of change of state (andare, venire, partire, nascere, diventare), all reflexive verbs, and essere itself take essere.
With essere the participle agrees with the subject: Marco è andato, Maria è andata, i ragazzi sono andati. With avere it does not move: Maria ha mangiato.
Ieri Marco ___ al cinema.
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