Compound tenses such as the passato prossimo are formed with the present indicative of the auxiliary verb avere or essere and the past participle (participio passato). The past participle of regular verbs is formed by dropping the infinitive ending -are, -ere, or -ire and adding the appropriate final ending: -ato, -uto, or -ito (see tables below).

　　REGULAR PAST PARTICIPLES OF -ARE VERBS　　 INFINITIVE FORMPAST PARTICIPLE

camminare (to walk)camminato

imparare (to learn)imparato

lavare (to wash)lavato

telefonare (to telephone)telefonato　　REGULAR PAST PARTICIPLES OF -ERE VERBS　　 INFINITIVE FORMPAST PARTICIPLE

battere (to beat)battuto

credere (to believe)creduto

sapere (to know)saputo

tenere (to keep)tenuto　　REGULAR PAST PARTICIPLES OF -IRE VERBS　　 INFINITIVE FORMPAST PARTICIPLE

capire (to understand)capito

finire (to finish)finito

gradire (to accept)gradito

sentire (to feel, to smell)sentito　　Below are examples of the passato prossimo with conjugated forms of the verb avere.

　　PASSATO PROSSIMO WITH REGULAR VERBS 　　 PERSONIMPARARE (TO LEARN)CREDERE (TO BELIEVE)CAPIRE (TO UNDERSTAND)

(io)ho imparatoho credutoho capito

(tu)hai imparatohai credutohai capito

(lui, lei, Lei)ha imparatoha credutoha capito

(noi)abbiamo imparatoabbiamo credutoabbiamo capito

(voi)avete imparatoavete credutoavete capito

(loro, Loro)hanno imparatohanno credutohanno capito