Italian 5.2. Past Absolute Tense

The past absolute tense is often used in Italian to refer to the distant or remote past. It is often used in reference to past events or narrations. However, since defining a certain past event as distant is something relative, one can use both the present perfect and the past absolute to refer to events that have been completed in the past.

Nevertheless, the past absolute tense cannot be used to refer to past events that have not been completed at the present moment. In this case, we can only use the present perfect. Thus, words such as “già” (already) and “appena” (just) are often not seen in the past absolute tense, but only in the present perfect tense.

In general, the past absolute tense finds more use in the southern part of Italy, whereas the present perfect is more common in other parts of Italy in daily conversation.

Conjugation

We form the stem by removing the final “-are,” “-ere,” or “-ire,” and attaching the conjugation suffix according to the personal pronoun, as shown in the following table: 

	-are ending e.g., parlare (to speak)	-ere ending e.g., vendere (to sell)	-ire ending e.g., partire (to leave)
io	parlai	vendei (or) vendetti	partii
tu	parlasti	vendesti	partisti
lui/lei	parlò	vendé (or) vendette	partì
noi	parlammo	vendemmo	partimmo
voi	parlaste	vendeste	partiste
loro	parlarono	venderono (or) vendettero	partirono

Many, but not all, regular verbs in the “-ere” group have an alternative form in the “io,” “lui/lei,” and “loro” forms. These have the endings: “-etti,” “-ette,” and “-ettero,” respectively.

Irregular Verbs

There are many irregular verbs in the past absolute tense in Italian, especially verbs with the “-ere” ending. Note that most of these irregular verbs have regular “tu,” “noi,” and “voi” forms. Here, we list the most common ones:

	io	tu	lui/lei	noi	voi	loro
avere to have	ebbi	avesti	ebbe	avemmo	aveste	ebbero
bere to drink	bevvi	bevesti	bevve	bevemmo	beveste	bevvero
cadere to fall	caddi	cadesti	cadde	cademmo	cadeste	caddero
chiedere to ask	chiesi	chiedesti	chiese	chiedemmo	chiedeste	chiesero
chiudere to close	chiusi	chiudesti	chiuse	chiudemmo	chiudeste	chiusero
conoscere to know	conobbi	conoscesti	conobbe	conoscemmo	conosceste	conobbero
correggere to correct	corressi	correggesti	corresse	correggemmo	correggeste	corressero
dare to give	diedi	desti	diede	demmo	deste	diedero
decidere to decide	decisi	decidesti	decise	decidemmo	decideste	decisero
dire to say or tell	dissi	dicesti	disse	dicemmo	diceste	dissero
discutere to discuss	discussi	discutesti	discusse	discutemmo	discuteste	discussero
essere to be	fui	fosti	fu	fummo	foste	furono
fare to do or make	feci	facesti	fece	facemmo	faceste	fecero
leggere to read	lessi	leggesti	lesse	leggemmo	leggeste	lessero
mettere to put	misi	mettesti	mise	mettemmo	metteste	misero
nascere to be born	nacqui	nacesti	nacque	nascemmo	naceste	nacquero
perdere to lose	persi	perdesti	perse	perdemmo	perdeste	persero
piacere to please	piacqui	piacesti	piacque	piacemmo	piaceste	piacquero
prendere to take	presi	prendesti	prese	prendemmo	prendeste	presero
ridere to laugh	risi	ridesti	rise	ridemmo	rideste	risero
sapere to know	seppi	sapesti	seppe	sapemmo	sapeste	seppero
scegliere to choose	scelsi	scegliesti	scelse	scegliemmo	sceglieste	scelsero
scendere to descend	scesi	scendesti	scese	scendemmo	scendeste	scesero
scrivere to write	scrissi	scrivesti	scrisse	scrivemmo	scriveste	scrissero
stare to stay or be	stetti	stesti	stette	stemmo	steste	stettero
vedere to see	vidi	vedesti	vide	vedemmo	vedeste	videro
venire to come	venni	venisti	venne	venimmo	veniste	vennero
vincere to win	vinsi	vincesti	vinse	vincemmo	vinceste	vinsero
volere to want	volli	volesti	volle	volemmo	voleste	vollero

Notice that the verbs in the list above are all “-ere” verbs except for “dare,” “dire,” “fare,” and “stare.” [1]

[1] The treatment of the verbs “fare” and “dire” as “-ere” verbs can be attributed to the fact that both verbs are derived from the Latin verbs “facere” and “dicere,” respectively.

Examples

Let us examine some examples that use the past absolute tense in Italian:

Servivano pasti deliziosi in questo ristorante.	They served delicious meals in this restaurant.
Perse le chiavi qui molto tempo fa.	He lost his keys here a long time ago.
Comprammo questa casa prima dell’ultima recessione.	We bought this house before the last recession.
Scrivesti molti bei libri.	You wrotemany great books.
Lei lesse molti articoli sull’argomento.	She read many articles on the topic.
Vinsi molti premi per le mie ricerche in questo campo.	I won many awards for my research in this field.

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