Auxiliary Verbs

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Verbi ausiliari

Auxiliary verbs are also known as helping verbs, because they help form compound conjugations, meaning compound tenses like the passato prossimo as well as compound moods like the past subjunctive.

 The key thing to remember about compound conjugations is that there are two verbs:

1. Auxiliary verb, whose conjugation determines the tense or mood
2. Main verb, which is always in the form of the past participle

Per esempio…

Ho mangiato.		I have eaten, I ate.		passato prossimo
Avevo mangiato.		I had eaten.		pluperfect
Avrò mangiato.		I will have eaten.		future perfect

 Italian has two auxiliary verbs. Avere is the auxiliary for the majority of Italian verbs, but there are quite a few verbs which require essere as the auxiliary. Whichever verb it is, the auxiliary is consistent for all compound conjugations: avere verbs always take avere as their auxiliary verb for all compound tenses and moods, while essere verbs always take essere.

Avere verbs

All transitive verbs (verbs that can take a direct object) require avere as their auxiliary verb (whether or not there is actually a direct object in the sentence). Some common transitive verbs:

avere		to have
capire		to understand
dare		to give
dire		to say, tell
fare		to do, make
mangiare		to eat
sapere		to know
trovare		to find
vedere		to see
volere		to want

Avere is also needed with some intransitive verbs. Many of these have to do with communication and making noise:

bussare		to knock on
chiacchierare		to chat
litigare		to argue
mentire		to lie
piangere		to cry
reagire		to react
ridere		to laugh
russare		to snore
scherzare		to joke
telefonare		to call
tossire		to cough

Others with sports and activities:

camminare		to walk
nuotare		to swim
pattinare		to skate
pedalare		to pedal
sciare		to ski
viaggiare		to travel

And some are just miscellaneous:

badare		to take care of
cenare		to dine
funzionare		to function, work

Essere verbs

Verbs that require essere as the auxiliary can be divided into themes:

1. All pronominal verbs

addormentarsi		to fall asleep
divertirsi		to have fun
sedersi		to sit down
sentirsi		to feel
vestirsi		to get dressed
etc.

2. Verbs of movement and stillness

andare		to go
arrivare		to arrive
cadere		to fall
entrare		to enter
essere		to be
partire		to leave
passare		to pass
rimanere		to stay
ritornare		to return
scendere		to descend / go downstairs
stare		to stay
uscire		to leave
venire		to come

3. Verbs of change

cambiare		to change
crescere		to grow
diventare		to become
nascere		to be born
morire		to die

Impersonal verbs

Traditionally, impersonal verbs required the auxiliary essere, but nowadays avere is commonly and correctly used as well.

albeggiare		to dawn
annottare		to get dark
grandinare		to hail
lampeggiare		to lightning
nevicare		to snow
piovere		to rain
tuonare		to thunder

 Essere verbs require agreement in all compound tenses – lesson coming soon.

 Related lessons

• Past participle
• Passato prossimo
• Introduction to verbs
   

 En español

• Verbo auxiliar: haber
   

 En français

• Verbes auxiliaires : avoir et être
   

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