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Past absolute of regular verbs (also called past definite, the historical past, or the remote past — il passato remoto)

Study the formation of the past absolute  of regular verbs:

The past absolute may be translated in two ways: parlai can be translated “I spoke” or “I did speak.” It is used to refer to single actions in the relatively distant past (hence the Italian name for it: il passato remoto). It is often used in literature and to talk about history, which is where the name “historical past” derives.

NOTE: Except for the fact that each conjugation retains its characteristic vowel, the endings of the past absolute are the same for the three regular conjugations. The third person singular of verbs in the first conjugation (parlò) is the only exception.

¹ Second-conjugation verbs in the past absolute are sometimes encountered with an old set of endings, which occur only in the first and third persons singular and the third person plural, as noted above.

VOCABULARY