Asking About the Past

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Asking About the Past in Italian

When you want to ask someone what they did yesterday, last week, or in their life, you use the passato prossimo (the conversational past tense). In English, this is similar to 'What did you do?' or 'Have you visited?'

How to Form Questions

To ask a question, simply take the standard passato prossimo structure and raise your voice at the end, or add question words like che cosa (what), dove (where), or quando (when).

Formula: [Question Word] + [Auxiliary (avere/essere)] + [Subject] + [Past Participle]?

  • Che cosa hai fatto? — What did you do?
  • Dove sei andato? — Where did you go?
  • Hai mangiato la pizza? — Did you eat pizza?

Common Mistakes

Remember that movement verbs (like andare) take essere and must agree in gender and number with the subject!

Words

che cosa
what
Che cosa hai fatto ieri?What did you do yesterday?
fare
to do / to make
Ho fatto i compiti.I did the homework.
andare
to go
Sono andato al mare.I went to the seaside.
vedere
to see
Hai visto quel film?Did you see that movie?
ieri
yesterday
Ieri ho lavorato molto.Yesterday I worked a lot.
dove
where
Dove sei stato?Where have you been?
quando
when
Quando sei arrivato?When did you arrive?
parlare
to speak
Ho parlato con Marco.I spoke with Marco.
mangiare
to eat
Hai mangiato la pizza?Did you eat pizza?
film
movie / film
Abbiamo visto un bel film.We saw a nice movie.

Lessons are prepared with the help of AI.

Patterns

Che cosa hai ___?

What did you [do/eat/buy]? Used to ask about past actions.

Che cosa hai mangiato?What did you eat?

Dove sei ___?

Where did you go / were you? Used for movement or state with essere.

Dove sei andato?Where did you go?

Hai visto ___?

Did you see [something/someone]? Used to ask if someone witnessed something.

Hai visto quel film?Did you see that movie?