- Regular Verbs in the passato remoteThe passato remote (past absolute or remote past) is a form of past tense. In general, the passato remoto is used for historical events or for events that happened to the speaker in the distant past. You will most often encounter this tense in formal writing--both nonfiction and fiction--and less often in speech.
For regular verbs, the passato remoto is formed by adding appropriate endings to the stem of the verb. Following is a chart showing how regular verbs in -are, -ere, and -ire are conjugated in the passato remoto. The added endings are in bold.amare
vendere
finire
amai vendei (vendetti) finii amasti vendesti finisti amò vendé (vendette) finì amammo vendemmo finimmo amaste vendeste finiste amarono venderono (vendettero) finirono
NB: As you can see in the table above, -ere verbs have two sets of possible endings in some persons. It is advisable not to use the endings -etti, -ette, -ettero when the verb stem ends in “t”. For instance: battere (battei), discutere (discutei). As for the rest, there are no set rules and both forms are acceptable.
- Examples of Use
Dante morì nel 1321.
Dante died in 1321.
Nel 1854 la famiglia di Verga si rifugiò in campagna a causa di un’epidemia di colera.
In 1854, Verga’s family took refuge in the country due to an epidemic of cholera.
Cavour entrò a far parte del governo nel 1850.
Cavour began to take part in government in 1850.
Nel tentativo di superare gli sviluppi scientifici realizzati dai sovietici, gli Stati Uniti fondarono vari programmi scientifici e militari.
In an attempt to surpass Soviet scientific developments, the United States established various scientific and military programs.
Da ragazzo, andai con un gruppo di amici in vacanza in Svizzera.
As a boy, I went on vacation in Switzerland with a group of friends.