Past Participle Agreement

In brief

In Italian compound tenses, the past participle sometimes changes its ending to match a noun or pronoun in gender and number. With essere, it agrees with the subject; with avere, it usually stays unchanged. A key exception is a direct-object pronoun such as lo, la, li, or le placed before avere: the participle agrees with what that pronoun replaces.

Form

With essere: participle matches the subject (-o, -a, -i, -e). With avere: normally use the unchanged participle; after a preceding direct-object pronoun lo/la/li/le, match the pronoun’s gender and number.

Usage

• Match the participle to a feminine or plural subject when the compound tense uses essere.
• Leave the participle unchanged with avere when the direct object follows the verb.
• If lo, la, li, or le comes before avere as a direct object, match the participle to the person or thing it replaces.

Examples

• Giulia è arrivata tardi. — Giulia arrived late.
• I ragazzi sono tornati a casa. — The boys came back home.
• Ho comprato le mele. — I bought the apples.
• Le ho comprate ieri. — I bought them yesterday.

Common mistake

❌ Le ho comprato ieri.

✅ Le ho comprate ieri.

When le stands for a feminine plural direct object such as le mele, the preceding pronoun makes the past participle agree: comprate.

Remember

With essere, look at the subject. With avere, check whether lo, la, li, or le comes before the verb as a direct object.