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The past participle

The past participles of the three conjugations of regular verbs end in —ato (e.g. parlato), —uto (e.g. venduto), and —ito (e.g. sentito), respectively.

The past participle of avere is regular: avuto

The past participle of essere is irregular: stato.

The past participle of an Italian verb has literally the same meaning as the English past participle equivalent. Thus, parlato means “spoken”; finito, “finished,” etc.

In Italian as in English, the past participle has two uses: as a part of the verb, to make the perfect (compound) tenses, and as an adjective (in which case it agrees with the noun or pronoun it modifies: una donna preoccupata — a worried woman).