{"id":4655,"date":"2014-02-07T14:24:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-07T14:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=4655"},"modified":"2014-02-07T14:52:54","modified_gmt":"2014-02-07T14:52:54","slug":"to-be-or-to-have","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/to-be-or-to-have\/","title":{"rendered":"To Be or to Have?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re learning Italian, knowing when to use essere<\/strong> or avere<\/strong> when talking about the past in the present perfect (Passato prossimo<\/strong>) is always a challenge. Should I say \u201cGiovanni \u00e8 vissuto in Inghilterra dal 2002 al 2007\u201d<\/strong> or \u201cGiovanni ha vissuto in Inghilterra dal 2002 al 2007\u201d<\/strong>? I remember once, when I was teaching Italian in England, I\u2019d 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: \u201cMy dictionary says to use essere<\/strong>\u201d. \u201cWell it must be wrong\u201d, said the second \u201cbecause my<\/u><\/em> dictionary says to use avere<\/strong>\u201d, so I went over to see what the problem was, and found out that the culprit was the verb vivere<\/strong> (to live). In fact, vivere<\/strong> can use either auxiliary verb, essere<\/strong> being the more \u2018grammatically correct\u2019. Let\u2019s look at some examples:<\/p>\n

1. with the auxiliary verb essere<\/strong> = to be: <\/font><\/p>\n

Giovanni \u00e8 vissuto in Inghilterra<\/strong> = Giovanni lived in England, this is<\/em> grammatically correct<\/p>\n

siamo vissuti all\u2019estero per molti anni<\/strong> = we lived abroad for many years, this is <\/em>grammatically correct<\/p>\n

As you can see from these examples, when we talk about where or when we have lived we use the auxiliary verb essere<\/strong>: \u00e8 vissuto in Inghilterra<\/strong> = he lived in England, sono vissuta l\u00ec per tre anni<\/strong> = I lived there for three years. However, you may also hear the following:<\/p>\n

Giovanni ha vissuto in Inghilterra<\/strong> = Giovanni lived in England, this is not <\/em>grammatically correct, but is<\/em> commonly used in colloquial Italian<\/p>\n

2. with the auxiliary verb avere<\/strong> = to have:<\/font><\/p>\n

Giovanni ha vissuto molto<\/strong> = Giovanni has lived a full life\/Giovanni has really<\/em> lived, this is<\/em> grammatically correct<\/p>\n

Giovanni ha vissuto un periodo dificile<\/strong> = Giovanni has lived through a difficult time, this is<\/em> grammatically correct<\/p>\n

These examples show that we use the auxiliary verb avere<\/strong> either when vivere<\/strong> means \u201cto enjoy life\/to live it up\u201d: lei s\u00ec che ha vissuto! =<\/strong> she has really lived it up!, or is followed by a direct object<\/font> such as: ho vissuto una vita felice<\/font><\/strong> = I\u2019ve lived a happy life, ho vissuto un periodo triste<\/font> <\/strong>= I\u2019ve lived through a sad time.<\/p>\n

In a few days I\u2019ll look at some more verbs which use both essere<\/strong> and avere<\/strong> in the passato prossimo<\/strong>. In the meantime you can revise the general rules on the use of these two auxiliary verbs by reading this article:<\/p>\n

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs<\/u><\/font><\/p>\n

Posted on 13. Mar, 2009 by Serena in Grammar<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

A reader has asked me to explain the difference between verbi transitivi<\/strong> (transitive verbs) and verbi intransitivi<\/strong> (intransitive verbs), so I\u2019ll try my best. This is always a difficult but, none the less, important topic in Italian grammar. CLICK HERE<\/font><\/strong><\/a> to read the whole article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re 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 \u201cGiovanni \u00e8 vissuto in Inghilterra dal 2002 al 2007\u201d or \u201cGiovanni ha vissuto in Inghilterra dal 2002 al 2007\u201d? I remember once, when I was teaching…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[292247,292246,740,839,292249,292248],"class_list":["post-4655","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-grammar","tag-essere-and-avere","tag-essere-or-avere","tag-italian-past-tense","tag-passato-prossimo","tag-vivere-with-avere","tag-vivere-with-essere"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t