The complete list of possessives is as follows:

1. The possessives listed above may be used either as adjectives or as pronouns.

Roberto cerca il suo cappello e il mio. –“Robert is looking for his hat and mine.”

2. The definite article is part of the possessive, but it is sometimes omitted with certain singular, unmodified nouns denoting close relationship.

il mio cappello or il cappello mio –“my hat”

le sue opere or le opere sue –“his works”

mio padre, mia sorella –“my father, my sister”

3. The definite article of the possessive contracts with prepositions in the same way as has already been discussed. (See section on contractions, Unit 3).
   

nei miei libri –“in my books”

VOCABULARY

The past participles of the three conjugations of regular verbs end in —ato (parlato), —uto (venduto), and —ito (sentito), respectively.

The past participle of avere is regular: avuto

The past participle of essere is irregular: stato.

The past participle of an Italian verb has literally the same meaning as the English past participle equivalent. Thus, parlato means “spoken”; finito, “finished,” etc.

In Italian as in English, the past participle has two uses: as an adjective (in which case it agrees with the noun or pronoun it modifies: una donna preoccupata – a worried woman) and as a part of the verb, to make the perfect (compound) tenses.

In Italian, the present perfect tense (il passato prossimo) consists of the present of one of two auxiliary verbs (avere or essere) plus the past participle. When auxiliary essere is used, it is translated by the appropriate form of the verb “to have.”

parlare                                 essere

ho parlato                          sono stato (-a)

hai parlato                         sei stato (-a)

ha parlato                          è stato (-a)

abbiamo parlato                siamo stati (-e)

avete parlato                     siete stati (-e)

hanno parlato                    sono stati (-e)

The present perfect has three possible translations. Thus, ho parlato may mean “I have spoken,” “I spoke,” or “I did speak,” depending on the context.

When essere is used as the auxiliary verb, the past participle must agree in gender and number (ex. Maria è stata in Italia. – Maria has been to Italy.). When avere is used as the auxiliary verb, it generally does not change, unless there is a preceding direct object pronoun, in which case the past participle agrees with the pronoun in gender and number (ex. Ho visto Stefania. – I saw Stefania. |vs| L’ho vista. – I saw her.)

Venire (to come) and rimanere (to remain) are sometimes used as auxiliaries in the simple tenses to create a passive construction, instead of essere. Andare (to go) is similarly used but often implies duty or obligation.

Examples with venire:

I ladri vennero arrestati. – The thieves were arrested.

Quando vengono cambiati? – When are they changed?

Venivano controllati ogni sei mesi. – They were checked every six months.

Verrà criticato da tutti. – He’ll be criticized by everyone.

Il segreto verrebbe scoperto. – The secret would be discovered.

Examples with rimanere:

Rimase sorpresa. – She was surprised.

È rimasto ferito in un incidente stradale. – He was injured in a car accident.

È rimasta stupefatta dalla scena. – She was amazed by the scene.

Examples with andare:

Il fucile non va toccato. – The gun must not (is not to) be touched.

Le leggi vanno rispettate. – The laws must be respected.

I compiti vanno fatti. – The homework must be done.

La bambina va portata a casa di sua mamma. – The child must be taken home to her mother.

Le porte vanno chiuse alle ore 19:00. – The doors must be closed at 7 p.m.

The majority of verbs in Italian (all transitive verbs) use avere as the auxiliary verb. Transitive verbs are verbs that take a direct object.

The auxiliary verb essere is used when conjugating:

1. the verb essere;
2. all reflexive verbs;
3. almost all intransitive verbs denoting motion or change of condition (andare, stare, entrare, arrivare, partire, diventare, divenire, nascere, morire, etc.); and
4. a few impersonal verbs such as piovere (to rain) and nevicare (to snow). (Note: these two verbs may equally be conjugated with avere, with no change in meaning.)

VOCABULARY

1. The most common relative pronouns are che, cui, and il quale. They all mean “who,” “whom,” “which,” or “that,” and are used in different ways according to context.

NOTE: Il quale has four forms (il quale, la quale, i quali, le quali). Since il quale and the three other forms agree in gender and number with the antecedent to which they refer, they are used in place of che when needing to avoid ambiguity.

Ex. Il fratello di Maria, il quale è artista, se ne va con Luigi. (Maria’s brother, who is an artist, is leaving with Luigi.) If we were to use che here — Il fratello di Maria, che è artista…– we cannot tell if the artist is Maria or her brother. “Il quale” is more specific, and tells us that is the brother who is the artist.

2. The relative pronoun “what” meaning “that which” is expressed by quel che,  quello che or ciò che.
   1. Avete quel che cerco? – Do you have what I am looking for? (Do you have that which I am looking for?)
3. The relative pronoun chi means “he who,” “him who,” “the one who,” “whoever,” or “anyone who.” This is often used in proverbs, as in “Chi cerca trova.” – “Seek and you shall find.” (Literally, “He who seeks finds.”)
4. The relative pronoun “whose” is usually expressed by il cui (la cui, i cui, le cui).
   1. È il signore la cui figlia ama Franco. – He is the gentleman whose daughter loves Franco.

VOCABULARY