When you start learning the past tense, that is il passato prossimo, you run into the unique situation (at least for native English speakers) of having to not only figure out what the equivalent is of the verb you want to use, but also a second verb that you combine it with.
Let me paint a clearer picture for you.

I want to say two sentences:

— Yesterday I talked to Marco.

— Then, we went to the club.

In Italian, here’s what would happen in my head:

Okay, so the word for yesterday is “ieri.” Great. Now, if I want to say “I talked,” I know that the past participle of “parlare” is “parlato.” Then I have to use the verb “avere” as the auxiliary verb, and since it’s me doing the action, it’s “ho,” so “ho parlato.” Then of course, the preposition is “con.”

Ieri ho parlato con Marco.

Avere = Auxiliary verb

Parlato = Past participle of “parlare”

However, in the next sentence, things change slightly.

So, the word I want to use for “then” is “poi.” Then I know that the past participle for “andare” is “andato” and that the auxiliary verb here to use is “essere,” Then the preposition is “in” and “club” is “discoteca”. However, since there are two of us, “essere” is conjugated as “siamo” and the ending of “andato” is replaced with an -i, making it “andati.”

Poi siamo andati in discoteca.

Essere = Auxiliary verb

Andato = Past participle

I break this down to the tiniest detail so you can all of the moving parts in front of your eyes that go into using auxiliary verbs, and knowing how to choose between “avere” and “essere” is incredibly important because you’re going to be using auxiliary verbs in more tenses than just the past.

So you have two choices here – avere and essere.

Which one do you choose?

How to Choose Between Avere and Essere

While there are a handful of exceptions, you choose “essere” with verbs that describe movement, a state of being, or a condition, like “andare – to go,” “uscire – to go out,” or “succedere – to happen.” Reflexive verbs, like “alzarsi – to get up” are always conjugated with “essere.”

“Avere” is typically used with all other verbs, like “parlare – to speak,” “mangiare – to eat,” or “imparare – to learn.”

What are some of the exceptions?

— Camminare – to walk: Even though this verb deals with motion, it takes “avere” as its auxiliary verb.

— Diventare – to become: This is one that you might not be sure about, but it does take the verb “essere” as an auxiliary.

— Rimanere – to stay: Even though nothing is technically changing when you’re staying in one place, this verb takes “essere” as an auxiliary verb as well.

Transitive or intransitive?

Another way that you could decide which verb to use is to recognize whether the meaning of the verb is transitive or intransitive. What does that mean?
Transitive verbs are ones that require a direct object, like “I finished my homework.” What did I finish? The homework — that’s the direct object. These types of verbs take “avere.” Intransitive verbs, on the other hand, don’t require an object and often represent a change of state or condition, like “The movie is over.” It was playing, but now it’s over. It’s changed its state. These types of verbs take “essere.”

Here’s a longer list of common verbs that take “avere”:

— Fare – to do/to make

— Portare – to bring

— Vedere – to see

— Sentire – to smell, hear, taste

— Aspettare – to wait

— Bere – to drink

— Capire – to understand

— Chiedere – to ask

— Credere – to believe, to think

— Cominciare – to begin

— Comprare – to buy

— Dare – to give

— Dire – to say

— Finire – to finish

— Imparare – to learn

— Pensare – to think

— Perdere – to lose, to miss

— Potere – to be able to, can

— Scrivere – to write

— Spiegare – to explain

— Vivere – to live

— Volere – to want

Here’s a longer list of common verbs that take “essere”:

— Abituarsi – to get used to

— Arrivare – to arrive

— Entrare – to enter

— Mettersi – to get dressed

— Morire – to die

— Nascere – to be born

— Partire – to leave

— Perdersi – to get lost

— Rimanere – to stay

— Riuscire – to be able to, to succeed (at)

— Salire – to go up

— Scendere – to descend, get off

— Stare – to be

— Tornare – to return

— Venire – to come

And then some verbs swing both ways (if you know what I mean).

There are a whole lot of verbs that can swing both ways, so I’ll just highlight five popular ones that you may hear or use in daily conversation.

— Cambiare – to change: When you’re talking about changing an object, like getting a new job (ho cambiato lavoro), you use “avere” as the auxiliary. But when you’re talking about someone changing (in quel periodo sono cambiato molto), you use “essere” as the auxiliary.

— Correre – to run, to be in a hurry: When you’re talking about running, you would use “avere” as the auxiliary, but when you’re talking about being in a hurry, you would use “essere”.

— Crescere – to grow, to raise: When you’re talking about how someone grew up, you use “essere” as the auxiliary (sono cresciuto/a in Michigan), but when you’re talking about someone raising children, you use “avere”  (mia madre mi ha cresciuto/a da sola).

— Finire – to finish: When you’re talking about a person finishing something, like homework, you use “avere” (ho finito i compiti), but when you’re talking about something being finished, like a movie, you use “essere” (il film è finito).

— Piovere – to rain: Typically you can use both “essere” and “avere” as the auxiliary verb here, but when you’re using “piovere” to talk about something more metaphorical, like people pouring in from a different country (500.000 di persone sono piovuti sull’Italia), then you would use “essere.

— Scendere – to go down: When you’re talking about getting off of something, like a bus, you use “essere” (sono sceso/a dall’autobus). When you’re talking about going down something, like a set of stairs, you use “avere” (ho sceso le scale).

Transitive:

The word transitive comes from the Latin transire meaning ‘to pass’, ‘to cross’, ‘to go beyond’, therefore it describes actions that move from the subject or doer directly to the object, without making use of prepositions such as di, da, per, a etc.
Examples:
The classic example that we learn at school is: io mangio la mela (I eat the apple); in this sentence io is the subject of the verb, mangio is the transitive verb, and la mela is the direct object.
It’s not always necessary to express the direct object, for example: la sera mangio presto (in the evening I eat early). Here, the direct object would be ‘dinner’, ‘meal’, or ‘food’, but it is implicit rather than expressed.
Another example would be: Giovanni guida la macchina per andare a lavorare (Giovanni drives his car to go to work). Here, guidare is a transitive verb because it is followed by the direct object, la macchina. However I could also omit ‘la macchina’ and simply say Giovanni guida per andare a lavorare.

Intransitive:
When using intransitive verbs, the action does not move directly from the subject to the object but makes use of a preposition such as di, da, in, a etc.
Some important intransitive verbs are those which don’t express an action but rather a state or a condition, such as essere (to be), stare (to stay), divenire (to become), or movement such as andare (to go), venire (to come), arrivare (to arrive), etc. When using these verbs we frequently add information, such as ‘where’, ‘when’, ‘how’, ‘for how long’, and so on.
Examples:
il treno è arrivato in stazione (the train arrived at the station). Here, il treno is the subject, è arrivato is the intransitive verb, in stazione is the indirect object introduced by the preposition in
sto in ufficio tutto il pomeriggio (I’ll be in the office all afternoon)
Giovanni va al lavoro in macchina (Giovanni goes to work by car)

The past perfect, in Italian as in English, is used to show that a past event or state happened prior to a past reference point.

It’s formed using the auxiliary verb ‘avere’ or ‘essere’ in the imperfect tense, and the past participle of the main verb.

Below are the conjunctions of ‘essere’, ‘avere’, and an example verb from each of the three main groups.

Remember that when you use the auxiliary verb ‘essere, the past participle needs to ‘agree’ with the gender and singular or plural nature of the subject.

essere [to be]

io ero stato/a
tu eri stato/a
lui/lei era stato/a
noi eravamo stati/e
voi eravate stati/e
loro erano stati/e

avere [to have]

io avevo avuto
tu avevi avuto
lui/lei aveva avuto
noi avevamo avuto
voi avevate avuto
loro avevano avuto

First group, -are

magiare [to eat]

io avevo mangiato
tu avevi mangiato
lui/lei aveva mangiato
noi avevamo mangiato
voi avevate mangiato
loro avevano mangiato

Second group, -ere

bere [to drink]

io avevo bevuto
tu avevi bevuto
lui/lei aveva bevuto
noi avevamo bevuto
voi avevate bevuto
loro avevano bevuto

Third group, -ire

venire [to come]

io ero venuto/a
tu eri venuto/a
lui/lei era venuto/a
noi eravamo venuti/e
voi eravate venuti/e
loro erano venuti/e

On this page, you will see several different types of object pronouns: 1) direct objects, 2) indirect objects, 3) objects of preposition, 4) reflexive pronouns, 5) the passive “si,” and 5) ci and ne.

1) Direct objects

A direct object receives the action of the verb and answers the question, “What?” For example:

• Vedo la ragazza. I see the girl.

We can ask, “What do I see?” and answer “The girl.” So “la ragazza” is our direct object.

Just like how in English we can replace “the girl” with the pronoun “her,” in Italian we can replace direct objects with pronouns. The direct object pronouns are the following:

Usually these pronouns come before your verb. So the sentence “Vedo la ragazza” becomes “La vedo” (I see her).

Sometimes pronouns are put after the verb for emphasis, and then use a different set of pronouns, called tonic pronouns:

Except for “me” and “te,” these are the same forms as the subject pronouns. Going back to “Vedo la ragazza,” we can say “Vedo lei,” if we want to emphasize that it is her (not someone else).

2) Indirect objects

Like direct objects answer the question “What?” indirect objects usually answer the question “To whom?” or “For whom?” For example:

• Scrivo a mia sorella. I write to my sister.

“My sister” answers the question, “To whom do I write?” so “mia sorella” is the indirect object.

The indirect object pronouns look like the direct object pronouns, except the third person:

Like the direct object pronouns, these typically come before the verb:

• Scrivo a mia sorella. Le scrivo. I write to my sister. I write to her.

You can also use the tonic pronouns (see above) after the verb for emphasis or clarification, but with the indirect object, “a” is required:

• Scrivo a lei.

The only exception is “loro,” which does not require “a”:

• Scrivo ai miei amici. Gli scrivo. / Scrivo loro. I write to my friends. I write to them.

3) Objects of preposition

After a preposition (for example, “con,” “di,” “per”), you should use a tonic pronoun (see above):

• Non so niente di te. I don’t know anything about you.

4) Reflexive pronouns

In Italian, some verbs are reflexive, meaning that the person doing the action does it to him or herself. Examples of this would be “mettersi” (to put a piece of clothing on), “chiamarsi” (literally “to call oneself”), and “sentirsi” (to feel). In the dictionary, you may notice that the infinitive has “si” on the end to show the verb is reflexive.

Reflexive verbs have their own pronouns:

These pronouns match the verb (“mi” with the “io” form, “ti” with “tu,” etc.) and are usually placed before the verb:

• Mi metto la giacca. I put on my coat.

5) The passive “si” (si passivante)

We use the passive or impersonal “si” when we don't want to state who exactly did the action. This can be translated in different ways in English. For example:

• In Italia si mangia la pizza.

This could be translated as: In Italy, pizza is eaten, In Italy, you (in general) eat pizza, In Italy, one eats pizza, In Italy, they (in general) eat pizza, among other things. The important thing to remember is that this action is not being done by any specific person.

To form this, use “si” and a verb in the third person (the form for lui/lei or loro). If there is an object after the verb, the verb agrees with the object. So we say:

• Si mangia la pizza.

but

• Si mangiano le pizze.

If there is no object, the verb is singular:

• Si mangia.

For reflexive verbs, you add “ci” before “si”:

• Ci si alza presto. One gets up early.

6) Ci and ne

“Ci” and “ne” replace prepositional phrases. “Ci” replaces “in” or “a” and their object:

• Vai a Roma? No, non ci vado. Are you going to Rome? No, I’m not going there.

“Ne” replaces “di” and its object:

• Vuoi una di queste caramelle? Ne vuoi una? Do you want one of these candies? Do you want one of them?

Poor Joe Biden starts to wander from the programme when he enquires after the health of Don Lemon as if to say: "You're black, you took the vaccine and you're not dead?"

Joe Biden definitely infers that he has not taken any vaccines from the inflexion of his speech.

The question asked of Biden is actually part of a puff piece. The whole of that room are keyed, ready to help the President line-up some ammunition at Howard Dean, who had claimed the Bush family had pre-knowledge of the 911 attacks. The question is 'Do you agree with the RNC that this type of attack borders on being a political hate speech?" allowing Bush to unload on Dean. The question, in reality, is designed to make Bush opposition sound like antisemitism or holocaust denial. It is designed to swivel the public away from being able to see the truth of these genocidal slime. Instead Bush's guilt is so intense that he cannot answer the question at all, and the journalist expecting the attack on Dean has to quickly move on to another subject to the amusement of all the other Bush cronies within the room. They are obviously feeling the pain that George Bush senior has been experiencing towards this unreliable member of the installed Rothschild dynasty.

From the Whitehouse Transcription: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/07/22/remarks-by-president-biden-in-a-cnn-town-hall-with-don-lemon/ 

 “You got the vaccination?  Are you okay?  I mean, you seem…”  “No, it works.”  Or you, you know — or the mom and dad, or the neighbour, or when you go to church, or when you’re — no, I really mean it. 
 
There are trusted interlocutors.  Think of the people — if your kid wanted to find out whether or not there were — there’s a man on the moon, or whatever — you know, something, or, you know, whether those aliens are here or not — you know, who are the people they talk to beyond the kids who love talking about it?