Italian Past Infinitive: Credo di Averlo Fatto (B1)

🔍 In short. The italian past infinitive (aver fatto, essere partito) is the form you reach for whenever a subordinate verb describes something that happened before the main verb. Credo di farlo means “I think I am doing it / I will do it”; credo di averlo fatto means “I think I did it.” The italian past infinitive is built from the infinitive of avere or essere plus the past participle, and it shows up after verbs of thinking, hoping and saying (credo, spero, penso, dico), after dopo and prima di, and after a long list of adjectives of feeling.

This B1 guide walks through the form, the meaning shift between present and past infinitive, the same-subject rule that decides when you can use di + infinitive at all, the special behaviour after dopo, and the agreement of the past participle. Examples are taken from a Vicenza restoration studio where Patrizia, the architect on a Palladian villa project, and Saverio, the site foreman, review the week’s work, a setting where “I think I finished”, “I hope I arrived in time” and “after checking the drawings” come up every day.

How the italian past infinitive is built

The recipe for the italian past infinitive is the same one you already use for the passato prossimo, only the auxiliary stays in the infinitive. Take avere or essere in their infinitive form and add the past participle of the main verb. That is it: every italian past infinitive in the language is built on this two-piece scaffolding.

• avere + past participle: aver fatto, aver scritto, aver capito, aver visto
• essere + past participle: essere arrivato, essere partita, essersi accorto, essere caduti

The choice of auxiliary inside the italian past infinitive follows the rules you already know from compound tenses: essere for verbs of motion and change of state (partire, arrivare, salire, cadere), for reflexive verbs (accorgersi, pentirsi, alzarsi), and for many verbs of becoming; avere for everything else. Native speakers almost always drop the final -e of the auxiliary: you will hear aver fatto far more often than avere fatto, and esser partito alongside essere partito. Both spellings of the italian past infinitive are correct and circulate freely in writing.

Present vs past infinitive: the time shift

The crucial point of the italian past infinitive is timing. The italian past infinitive tells your listener that the action of the subordinate verb happened before the action of the main verb. The simple (present) infinitive does the opposite: it places the subordinate action at the same time as the main verb, or after it. This is a binary contrast that maps cleanly onto English “to do” versus “to have done”, and once you internalise it you stop second-guessing.

• Patrizia crede di farlo entro venerdì.
  Patrizia thinks she is doing it / will do it by Friday. (action not yet completed: present infinitive)
• Patrizia crede di averlo fatto ieri.
  Patrizia thinks she did it yesterday. (action already over: past infinitive)
• Saverio spera di arrivare in tempo.
  Saverio hopes to arrive on time. (he has not arrived yet)
• Saverio spera di essere arrivato in tempo.
  Saverio hopes he arrived on time. (he has arrived, now hopes the timing was right)

If the main verb shifts to a past tense (sapevo, credevo, pensavo), the italian past infinitive then corresponds to an English pluperfect: Sapevo di averlo fatto translates as “I knew I had done it”, not “I knew I did it”. The italian past infinitive itself does not change shape: it is the tense of the main verb that decides whether English needs the simple past or the pluperfect rendering.

The same-subject rule (and what to do when subjects differ)

Here is the rule that catches most learners out, and that no English-language textbook drills hard enough. The structure di + infinitive, including the italian past infinitive, is allowed only when the subject of the main verb and the subject of the subordinate verb are the same person. If the subjects differ, Italian forces you out of the italian past infinitive and into a finite clause introduced by che, typically with the subjunctive after verbs of opinion or feeling.

• Patrizia spera di essere arrivata in tempo.
  Patrizia hopes she arrived on time. (Patrizia = Patrizia, same subject, infinitive)
• Patrizia spera che Saverio sia arrivato in tempo.
  Patrizia hopes that Saverio arrived on time. (Patrizia is not Saverio, so che + subjunctive)
• Saverio è sicuro di aver controllato ogni travetto.
  Saverio is sure he checked every joist.
• Saverio è sicuro che Patrizia abbia controllato i disegni.
  Saverio is sure that Patrizia checked the drawings.

Using che + subjunctive when the subjects are the same is not ungrammatical (you will sometimes see it in formal writing), but it sounds heavy. Native speakers almost always prefer the lighter italian past infinitive when they can. For the full picture on which verbs trigger the subjunctive in same-subject contexts, see our companion guide on the italian present subjunctive.

Common triggers: credo, spero, penso, dico, mi accorgo

The verbs that most commonly govern an italian past infinitive in a subordinate clause are the verbs of mental activity, perception and assertion. They all share the property of letting you describe something you are now thinking, hoping or noticing about an event already finished, and they all pair naturally with the italian past infinitive built on avere or essere. Here is a short, high-frequency list with examples drawn from Patrizia and Saverio’s restoration site in Vicenza, where every shift wraps up with somebody using an italian past infinitive to report what they have just done.

• credere di: Credo di aver lasciato i disegni della facciata sud nel cassetto dell’archivio.
  I think I left the drawings of the south façade in the archive drawer.
• sperare di: Spero di esserti stata d’aiuto con la lettura del capitolato.
  I hope I was of help to you with reading the specifications.
• pensare di: Pensavo di averti già mandato la versione aggiornata della relazione.
  I thought I had already sent you the updated version of the report.
• dire di: Saverio dice di aver sottovalutato i tempi di consolidamento del cornicione.
  Saverio says he underestimated the consolidation time for the cornice.
• accorgersi di: Mi accorgo solo adesso di non aver firmato il preventivo per i ponteggi.
  I’m only now noticing that I didn’t sign the estimate for the scaffolding.
• ammettere di: Ammetto di aver chiuso l’archivio senza riporre il modello in gesso.
  I admit I closed the archive without putting the plaster model back.
• ricordarsi di: Non mi ricordo di aver letto questa clausola nel contratto.
  I don’t remember reading this clause in the contract.
• pentirsi di: Si pente di aver accettato la consegna senza una verifica statica.
  She regrets having accepted the delivery without a structural check.

A wider list of verbs that govern di is collected in our reference on italian verbs followed by the preposition di; most of them can take either a simple infinitive or an italian past infinitive depending on whether the subordinate event is concurrent or earlier.

After dopo: past infinitive is compulsory

The preposition dopo introduces a temporal subordinate clause that says “after X happened, Y happens”. Because X is by definition prior to Y, Italian requires the italian past infinitive: no choice involved. The Italian grammar by Treccani is explicit on this point: temporal subordinates that express posteriority are built with dopo plus the italian past infinitive, or alternatively with a bare past participle preceded by una volta.

• Dopo aver controllato la statica del portico, abbiamo deciso di rinforzare i pilastri esterni.
  After checking the structural stability of the portico, we decided to reinforce the outer pillars.
• Dopo essere salita sull’impalcatura, Patrizia ha capito che l’affresco era in condizioni peggiori del previsto.
  After climbing onto the scaffolding, Patrizia realised the fresco was in worse shape than expected.
• Dopo aver letto la perizia, Saverio ha proposto un secondo intervento sul tetto.
  After reading the technical report, Saverio proposed a second intervention on the roof.

A common beginner mistake is to say dopo controllare or dopo arrivare. These forms do not exist in standard Italian: a present infinitive after dopo is simply ungrammatical, and only the italian past infinitive works in that slot. If you want a lighter alternative, use the past participle on its own: Una volta arrivati in cantiere, abbiamo iniziato il sopralluogo (“Once we arrived on site, we started the inspection”).

Prima di: present or past infinitive?

The mirror image of dopo is prima di, which introduces an event that the main clause precedes. Most of the time the subordinate verb stays in the present infinitive (Prima di iniziare i sondaggi, sentiamo la Soprintendenza) because the focus is on what is about to happen. But Italian also allows the italian past infinitive after prima di when the speaker wants to underline that the event was already finished at the moment the main action took place. Treccani notes both options are correct.

• Prima di iniziare i sondaggi sull’intonaco, sentiamo cosa ne pensa la Direzione Lavori.
  Before starting the test patches on the plaster, let’s hear what the Site Management thinks.
• Prima di aver visto il rilievo completo, non posso firmare il preventivo.
  Before seeing the full survey, I can’t sign the estimate. (the seeing must already be done at signing time; past infinitive emphasises completion)

Adjectives of feeling: contento di aver, dispiaciuto di non aver

A long line of adjectives that describe an emotional reaction take di plus the italian past infinitive when the reason for the feeling is something that has already happened. Think of contento, felice, dispiaciuto, sorpreso, orgoglioso, soddisfatto, addolorato, grato, mortificato, fortunato, sicuro, certo. The structure is identical to English “happy to have”, “sorry to have”, “proud to have”, and the italian past infinitive carries exactly the same backward-looking time reference.

• Sono contenta di aver scelto questo studio per il tirocinio in restauro.
  I’m happy I chose this studio for my restoration apprenticeship.
• Patrizia è dispiaciuta di non aver avvisato il committente del ritardo.
  Patrizia is sorry she didn’t notify the client about the delay.
• Saverio è orgoglioso di aver riportato alla luce un fregio del Settecento sotto la calce.
  Saverio is proud to have brought to light an eighteenth-century frieze under the lime wash.
• Siamo grati di esser stati invitati al cantiere di Villa Cordellina.
  We are grateful to have been invited to the Villa Cordellina worksite.

Note the alternation di / per with these adjectives: both prepositions are correct, with per slightly emphasising the cause (“because I had”). Sono contenta per aver scelto and sono contenta di aver scelto are practically interchangeable in everyday speech.

Participle agreement with essere

When the auxiliary inside the italian past infinitive is essere, the past participle agrees in gender and number with the subject of the implicit clause, which, thanks to the same-subject rule, is also the subject of the main verb. This is the same agreement you apply with the passato prossimo: è partita, siamo arrivati, sono caduti. Inside an italian past infinitive the agreement does not disappear: it just lands on the participle.

• Patrizia spera di essere arrivata in tempo. (feminine singular)
• Saverio crede di essere arrivato in tempo. (masculine singular)
• I due architetti credono di essere arrivati in tempo. (masculine plural)
• Le due restauratrici sperano di essere arrivate in tempo. (feminine plural)

With avere as the auxiliary of the italian past infinitive there is no agreement with the subject (the participle stays in -o: credo di aver finito, regardless of who “I” am), but the participle does agree with a preceding direct-object pronoun, exactly as in compound tenses.

Attached pronouns: averlo fatto, essersi accorto

Pronouns combine with the italian past infinitive by attaching to the auxiliary, not to the past participle. You get averlo fatto (“having done it”), averla vista (“having seen her”), esserci andato (“having gone there”), essersi accorto (“having realised”). The participle then agrees with the attached direct-object pronoun: averla vista (feminine), averli incontrati (masculine plural), averle riconosciute (feminine plural).

• Credo di averlo già spedito stamattina.
  I think I already sent it this morning.
• Saverio ammette di averla persa di vista durante il sopralluogo.
  Saverio admits he lost sight of her during the inspection.
• Mi pare di esserci già passato da quel laboratorio di stucchi.
  I think I’ve already been past that stucco workshop.
• Patrizia è felice di essersi accorta dell’errore prima della firma.
  Patrizia is happy she realised the mistake before the signature.

Two shortcuts: aver for avere, esser for essere

In spoken and written Italian, the final -e of avere and essere is almost always dropped when the auxiliary of an italian past infinitive is followed by a participle. Aver fatto, aver visto, esser partito, esser caduti are not slang: they are the default form of the italian past infinitive you will hear and read. The full forms avere fatto and essere partito are perfectly correct but sound slightly more formal, almost ceremonial.

The same shortening applies inside fixed expressions: credo d’avercela fatta (“I think I made it”), sembra d’aver capito (“it seems we understood”), spero d’esserci riuscito (“I hope I managed it”). The apostrophe replaces both the -i of di and the -e of avere.

Italian past infinitive cheat sheet

Dialogue: Vicenza, Villa Cordellina, Friday review

Patrizia and Saverio meet on Friday afternoon in the studio above the Vicenza office of the restoration firm. The drawings for Villa Cordellina, a Palladian villa they have been working on for six months, are spread across the table. They run through what is done and what is still pending.

Test your understanding

Take the quiz below to test what you’ve learned about the italian past infinitive in subordinate clauses.

Frequently asked questions

A short FAQ on the points that come up most often in lessons and on forums about the italian past infinitive. For the institutional Italian-language reference on the italian past infinitive, see the entry INFINITO on Treccani.

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Related guides

• Italian Infinitive: Forms, Uses, Da + Infinito (B1): the foundation guide on the simple infinitive, before you move on to its compound form.
• Italian Present Subjunctive: Forms, Triggers, Same-Subject Trap (B1): what to do when the subjects of the main and subordinate clauses differ.
• Italian Verbs Followed by DI: The Complete B1 List: the lexical companion, which verbs trigger the di + infinitive construction.
• Treccani: INFINITO: the institutional Italian-language reference on the infinitive in subordinate clauses.