The Trapassato Remoto Tense in Italian

I haven’t had much time to play with tense, so this is definitely not my area of expertise.

However, after un sacco di ricerca (a bunch of research) and help from my editors, here’s what we’ve come up with.

First, you should know that this is the tense you would use to express something like: “After Pocahontas had finished talking, John Smith left.”

“Had finished” is what the trapassato remoto expresses.

It’s rarely used in conversation, just like the passato remoto, and you’ll see it mostly in literature.

Second you should know that it’s only used after words that talk about time, like:

• Quando – when
• Dopo che – after
• Non appena – as soon as
• Finché – as long as
• Solo dopo che – only after

Thirdly, you should know you only need to use the trapassato remoto when you’re already using the passato remoto.

supporting sentence               +      most important part of your sentence

(trapassato remoto)                               (passato remoto)

Non appena ebbe visto l’automobile, decise di comprarla. – As soon as he had seen the car, he decided to buy it.

Don’t know what the passato remoto is or need a refresher? Click here to read: The Passato Remoto in Italian (or how to relax in the midst of chaos)

How to create the beauty that is the trapassato remoto

You have two choices.

You use either the passato remoto form of “avere – to have” or the passato remoto form of “essere – to be.”

Does this help?

use the passato remoto    +    the past participle (past tense)

{avere} or {essere}                        {any verb}

To refresh your memory, that would be:

Essere – to be

IO fui                                       NOI fummo

TU fosti                                  VOI foste

LUI/LEI fu           ESSI/LORO furono

Avere – to have

IO ebbi                                 NOI avemmo

TU avesti                             VOI aveste

LUI/LEI ebbe    ESSI/LORO ebbero

Then you would take the past form of whatever verb you want to use.

Ad esempio, “ebbe scritto – she/he had written” or “furono venuti” – they had come

The past form is the “scritto” and the “venuti.”

It’s the same way you choose which to use with the passato prossimo.

As a general rule:

Verbs of movement – leaving, going out, going up – take “essere.”

All other verbs take “avere.”

The specific rules are much more complicated than this, but generally, this is what you’ll find.

Esempi

• Coco Chanel arrivò non appena Captain Caput fu partito. – Coco Chanel came just as Captain Caput had left.
• Il mondo ascoltò i Beatles solo dopo che John Lennon ebbe cantato “All You Need is Love.” – The world heard the Beatles only after John Lennon had sung the song “All You Need is Love.”
• Quando la costruzione della chiesa fu terminata, gli abitanti del paese festeggiarono con fuochi di artificio. – Once the building of the church was completed, the inhabitants celebrated the event with fireworks.

Questions? Comments? Tell me below!