The Passato Remoto in Italian: A Dive into the Past

The Passato Remoto is an Italian past tense of the modo indicativo.

The Passato Remoto (io mangiai, “I ate” in a distant past) indicates an event considered outside of its duration and concluded in the past, with no connections to the present.

Similarly to its counterpart, the Passato Prossimo, it collaborates seamlessly with the imperfetto. Together, they encapsulate a complete action within an ongoing scenario.

• Quando ero bambino, una volta andai in vacanza in Grecia.

Discussions revolve around the Passato Remoto and its classification as a linguistic “endangered species.” In recent decades, the prevalence of this tense in spoken and written Italian has diminished. The shift towards less formal and intricate Italian, especially in Northern Italy, has played a role in its decline.

The Passato Prossimo steps forward with immediacy, making it a preferred linguistic tool of television and other media. The realms of spoken and written word — social media, news, movies, radio — favour this tense. Newspapers, tuned to contemporary events, relegate the Passato Remoto to the archives and narrative.

Yet, the Passato Remoto thrives in literary usage. Novels crafted with this tense flourish in detailed narratives.

For me, the elegance of the Passato Remoto is undeniable. However, as a Northern Italian, I confess to a comfortable existence without it for most of my adult life.

The foundations of local Italian dialects—on which standard Italian stands—lack the Passato Remoto. Thus, Northern Italians apply ignore it. Some Southern Italy’s dialects, in contrast, embrace it as their past tense of choice, into daily dialogue.

Occasionally, we Milanese stumble in the past, misplacing the tense when using the Passato Prossimo for distant actions:

• Mio nonno ha combattuto la guerra. —> Mio nonno combatté la guerra.

Some Southern Italians, however, move in the opposite direction, employing the Passato Remoto incorrectly:

• Ieri andai al mercato. —> Ieri sono andato al mercato.

Both are deviations.

Tuscans and Central Italians strike a balance in their usage, while Neapolitan voices suggest a lighter reliance compared, for example, to the beautiful Southern Italian of Sicily and Calabria.

Although in decline, the Passato Remoto thrives within the pages of books. A learning necessity? Yes. Study it, appreciate its beauty, and embrace its expressive power for conveying past events!

Let’s start from the basic grammar rules.

Passato Remoto dei Verbi Regolari

Please notice how –ere verbs have two possible conjugations with the Passato Remoto. Both are correct.

Passato Remoto di Essere & Avere

ESSERE

• io fui
• tu fosti
• lui / lei fu
• noi fummo
• voi foste
• loro furono

AVERE

• io ebbi
• tu avesti
• lui / lei ebbe
• noi avemmo
• voi aveste 
• loro ebbero

The Passato Remoto is the most irregular tense in Italian. Irregular verbs mostly belong to the -ere conjugation. This is likely one of the main reasons why people tend to favor using the Passato Prossimo.

The following is a very basic list of irregular verbs. You can start here and build up some vocabulary.

Passato Remoto dei Verbi Irregolari

Thanks for reading. Please solve the quiz and listen to the correct pronunciation in the answer.

Check our our Zoom courses!

Alla prossima

Andrea del Sarto  – Ritratto maschile – 1528