The trapassato prossimo (in English known as the “pluperfect” or “past perfect”) is an Italian past tense used to express an action that had already happened before another one: think of it as the past of the past! Just like the English past perfect (“had verb-ed”), it is a compound tense. Don’t worry, if you know how to use the imperfetto of essere meaning to be and avere meaning to have and if you know how to form the passato prossimo you are ready to...reminisce! It’s quite simple to form!
In this post we’ll teach you how to form the trapassato prossimo in Italian, and when to use it. Let’s see how!
How to use the ‘trapassato prossimo’ in Italian?
To use the trapassato prossimo, combine an auxiliary (essere meaning to beor avere meaning to have), conjugated in the l'imperfetto, with the past participle. See? It’s very much like forming the passato prossimo or other Italian compound tenses.
Let’s consider these two examples:
- essere (imperfetto)past participleRicordo che eri appena arrivato quando Sara ha chiamato.Translation: I remember you had just arrived when Sara called.
- avere (imperfetto)past participleSono arrivata alle 7 e Maria aveva già preparato cena.Translation: I arrived at 7 and Maria had already made dinner.
These two examples, eri appena arrivato and aveva già preparato, both represent actions that happened before another moment in the past:
You had already arrived before Sara called
Maria had already made dinner before I arrived
This is why we use the trapassato prossimo.
In Italian, there are different ways to talk about past events:
we can use the imperfetto when talking about recurring or ongoing events in the past
we can use the passato prossimo when talking about events that are concluded
The trapassato prossimo works with both kinds of actions: as the past of the past! Let’s see how to do it!
A useful way to learn this tense is to think about choosing a path and following the steps to your destination: trapassato prossimo. The path you take depends on whether the verb uses essere meaning to be or avere meaning to have.
Path 1: How to form the past perfect with ‘essere’?
To form the trapassato prossimo of a verb that uses essere, use the formula below:
(in imperfetto)
past participle
(agrees)
Let’s begin by learning the conjugation of the verb essere meaning to be in the imperfetto:
io ero | noi eravamo |
tu eri | voi eravate |
lei/lui/Lei era | loro erano |
As with the passato prossimo, the verb essere is then combined with a past participle. Let’s go over how to use the past participles with the verb essere.
Now that we know how to conjugate essere in the imperfetto and how to use the past participles, let’s see how to form the trapassato prossimo. Let's go back to our initial example. If you want to say “I remember you had just arrived when Sarah called” in Italian, here are the steps to follow.
The verb “arrive” translates to arrivare, which uses essere, so we follow path 1!
We ask: who is the subject? → tu meaning you, masculine singular
Choose the tu form of essere in the imperfetto → tu eri
Add the past participle of arrivare, and make it agree with the subject → tu eri arrivato
And then add it all together to form the final sentence:
essere (imperfetto)past participleRicordo che eri appena arrivato quando Sara ha chiamato.Translation: I remember you had just arrived when Sara called.
Path 2: How to form the past perfect with ‘avere’?
To form the trapassato prossimo meaning past perfect with avere meaning have follow the formula below.
(in imperfetto)
past participle
(usually without agreement)
Let’s go over the conjugation for avere in the imperfetto:
io avevo | noi avevamo |
tu avevi | voi avevate |
lei/lui aveva | loro avevano |
So let’s go through the steps to follow if you want to say something like “I arrived at 7 and Maria had already made dinner.”
The verb “make” here is best translated with preparare meaning to prepare/make, which takes the auxiliary verb avere, so we follow path 2!
We ask, who is the subject? → Maria (feminine singular)
We choose the lei form of avere conjugated in imperfetto → Maria aveva
Add the past participle of preparare (without agreement) → Maria aveva preparato
Put it together into a complete sentence!
avere (imperfetto)past participleSono arrivata alle 7 e Maria aveva già preparato cena.Translation: I arrived at 7 and Maria had already made dinner.
When to use the ‘trapassato prossimo’ in Italian
As we saw above, we mostly use the trapassato prossimo to talk about something that was finished before another past event or moment. But in spoken Italian, you can sometimes hear other uses of the trapassato prossimo. For example:
Setting the background in narratives:
Similarly to the use of imperfetto, you can use the trapassato in narrative for descriptions in the past of the past:
Gianni aveva lavorato tutto il giorno.Translation: Gianni had worked all day.Replying to an implied past reference:
The trapassato can sometimes be used independently in a sentence as long as the reference to the past is understood from context.
Bello il film. Non l’avevo ancora visto.Translation: Great film! I hadn’t seen it before.
Summing up
The trapassato prossimo is your ally when you want to talk about past events that happened before another event in the past, just remember to:
use two words: auxiliary (essere/avere) + past participle,
check if the verb takes essere or avere and use them in the imperfetto,
remember that the past participle matches in gender (feminine/masculine) and number (singular/plural) if the verbs follow the imperfetto of essere + past participle “path.”
Ready to follow the paths to success with these activities? Andiamo! meaning Let's go!
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