1.2. Present perfect, passato prossimo

The passato prossimo is a very common past tense in Italian. It is used to describe an action that has been definitely, clearly concluded in the (recent) past. 

It is a compound tense. It is formed by two verbs: an auxiliary (the appropriate form of avere or essere), plus a past participle.

The past participle is formed by adding -ato,- uto, -ito to the stem of the appropriate verb.

For example,

Following are some examples of the passato prossimo formed with avere + the past participle (il participio passato).

Abbiamo mangiato la torta.                            We ate the cake.

Hanno ricevuto la lettera.                               They received the letter.

Ho dormito cinque ore.                                   I slept for five hours.

Following are some examples of the passato prossimo formed with essere + the past participle:

Lisa è andata al cinema ieri sera.                               Lisa went to the movies last night.

Marco è caduto due volte.                                           Marco fell two times.

Siete partiti quattro giorni fa.                          You (plural) left four days ago.