passato prossimo part 2

One other very important thing to know about the passato prossimo (I didn't want to bombard you with too much all at once last week): the participles of avere verbs always agree with the direct object pronouns lo, la, li and le.

Compare:

Ho visto Maria. (no pronoun, no agreement)

La ho vista. (pronoun - the participle agrees)

Avete comprato i biglietti? (no pronoun, no agreement)

Li avete comprati? (pronoun - the participle agrees)

This agreement takes place only with direct object pronouns (not with direct objects, not with indirect object pronouns, but direct object pronouns only). With the direct object pronouns mi, ti, ci and vi, the agreement is optional. I say keep it simple and only worry about the mandatory ones - lo, la, li and le.

Often you will see (and especially hear) this:

L'ho vista.

This is the same as "La ho vista" - the vowel in the direct object pronoun is usually dropped for greater speed and ease of pronunciation. That's why this agreement is so important - the past participle is often your only clue to the gender and number of the direct object.

And that's really all this time. L'hai imparato!