Scusa, non ti avevo visto! È molto che aspetti? 

Sorry, I didn’t see you. Have you been waiting long? 

Implied here is something like (Ora ti ho visto, ma prima) non ti avevo visto  [i.e. I’ve seen you now, but I hadn’t before]. 

Scusa, non ti avevo sentito. 

Sorry, I didn’t hear you. 

Implied here is something like Non ti avevo sentito (ma ora ti ho sentito)  [i.e. I hadn’t heard you before, but I have now]. 

## Forming the past perfect 

3 The past perfect in Italian is formed with the imperfect indicative of avere or essere  (auxiliary verbs) followed by the past participle of the verb. Here are two examples, one using avere  and the other essere : 

Imperfect of avere (io) avevo (tu) avevi (lui/lei) aveva (noi) avevamo (voi) avevate (loro) avevano 

Imperfect of essere (io) ero (tu) eri (lui/lei) era (noi) eravamo (voi) eravate (loro) erano 

Past participle of scrivere scritto scritto scritto scritto scritto scritto 

Past participle of andare andato / andata andato / andata andato / andata andati / andate andati / andate andati / andate 

I had written you had written he/she/it had written we had written you had written they had written 

I had gone you had gone he/she/it had gone we had gone you had gone they had gone 

4 As regards agreement of the past participle, the past perfect obeys exactly the same rules as the present perfect: if the auxiliary is avere  the past parti- ciple does not change; but if it is essere  the past participle behaves like an adjective, agreeing in gender and number with the subject of the verb, as in these examples: 

Avere Livia aveva guardato la televisione. Avevi comprato il pane? Aveva prenotato, Signor Ferro? 

Livia had watched television. Had you bought the bread? Had you booked, Mr Ferro? 

