If you’re learning Italian, knowing when to use essere or avere when talking about the past in the present perfect (Passato prossimo) is always a challenge. Should I say “Giovanni è vissuto in Inghilterra dal 2002 al 2007” or “Giovanni ha vissuto in Inghilterra dal 2002 al 2007”? I remember once, when I was teaching Italian in England, I’d set an exercise in which the students had to work in pairs. At a certain point I overheard two of them having a heated discussion. The first one said: “My dictionary says to use essere”. “Well it must be wrong”, said the second “because my dictionary says to use avere”, so I went over to see what the problem was, and found out that the culprit was the verb vivere (to live). In fact, vivere can use either auxiliary verb, essere being the more ‘grammatically correct’. Let’s look at some examples:

1. with the auxiliary verb essere = to be:

Giovanni è vissuto in Inghilterra = Giovanni lived in England, this is grammatically correct

siamo vissuti all’estero per molti anni = we lived abroad for many years, this is grammatically correct

As you can see from these examples, when we talk about where or when we have lived we use the auxiliary verb essere: è vissuto in Inghilterra = he lived in England, sono vissuta lì per tre anni = I lived there for three years. However, you may also hear the following:

Giovanni ha vissuto in Inghilterra = Giovanni lived in England, this is not grammatically correct, but is commonly used in colloquial Italian

2. with the auxiliary verb avere = to have:

Giovanni ha vissuto molto = Giovanni has lived a full life/Giovanni has really lived, this is grammatically correct

Giovanni ha vissuto un periodo dificile = Giovanni has lived through a difficult time, this is grammatically correct

These examples show that we use the auxiliary verb avere either when vivere means “to enjoy life/to live it up”: lei sì che ha vissuto! = she has really lived it up!, or is followed by a direct object such as: ho vissuto una vita felice = I’ve lived a happy life, ho vissuto un periodo triste = I’ve lived through a sad time.

In a few days I’ll look at some more verbs which use both essere and avere in the passato prossimo. In the meantime you can revise the general rules on the use of these two auxiliary verbs by reading this article:

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

Posted on 13. Mar, 2009 by Serena in Grammar

A reader has asked me to explain the difference between verbi transitivi (transitive verbs) and verbi intransitivi (intransitive verbs), so I’ll try my best. This is always a difficult but, none the less, important topic in Italian grammar. CLICK HERE to read the whole article.