Mnemonic tricks can help students master finer points of Italian grammar

Did you know that “a very prude man” helps you remember passato prossimo, or the past perfect tense, the most challenging concept to learn in Italian grammar?

This tense is usually taught after the student has mastered the present tense and all the conjugations. Passato prossimo describes a past event that happened only once opposed to the imperfetto tense that describes continuous past action.

Since there is no comparison in English, I often use mnemonics as a tool to teach the students.

Passato prossimo uses both auxiliary verbs essere (to be) and avere (to have). I am sure you are even more confused now. What are auxiliary verbs? Auxiliary verbs are known as helping verbs to distinguish between the tenses. That’s why I use mnemonics.

The mnemonic “a very prude man” is used with the verb essere.

Let me illustrate:

A = andare = to go

V = venire = to come

E = essere = to be

R = ritornare = return

Y = N/A in Italian alphabet

P = partire = to leave

R = restare = to stay

U = Uscire = to exit

D = diventare = to become

E = entrare = to enter

M = morire = to die

A = arrivare = to arrive

N = nascere = to be born

The bolded words indicate movement and the others indicate change of status.

Passato prossimo is a complex verb. It consists of the present tense of essere + the past participle of the verb – i.e, andare = andato/a

When you use the verb essere it is always gender/number agreement = male/female or singular/plural.

Mario went to Italy.

Mario e’ andato in Italia / maschile= O

Maria went to Italy.

Maria e’ andata in Italia / feminile = A

The second past tense I will illustrate is imperfetto which describes events continuous in the past.

The mechanics are the same for all three conjugations: ARE/ERE/IRE

The endings for all verbs are the same vo,vi,va,vamo,vate,vano.

Andavo, andavi, andava, andavamo, andavate and andavano.

The application and when to use it is a sfida (challenge). Thus I created a memory trick when to use it in conversation. If you intend to express specific feelings remember CELATE.

Caratteristica fisica / physical characteristic

Emozioni / emotions

L’ora / time

Abbitudine / habits

Tempo / weather

Eta’ / age

Ogni estate Mario andava in Italia. / Every Summer Mario went to Italy.

Ogni estate Maria andava in Italia. / Every Summer Maria went to Italy.

Notice there is no gender/number agreement. The same verb form is used for both Mario and Maria.