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.