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## Present perfect of avere and essere 

7 Avere  forms the present perfect with the auxiliary avere : 

<img src='content_image/835403.jpg'>

Essere  forms the present perfect with the auxiliary essere : 

<img src='content_image/835404.jpg'>

<img src='content_image/835405.jpg'>

8 Like the present, the present perfect of essere  can be used with the pronoun ci  (see Unit 4): c’è stato / stata  (there was/has been), ci sono stati / state  (there were/have been): 

<img src='content_image/835406.jpg'>

## Essere or avere ? 

9 Deciding whether to use essere  or avere  can be a bit of a problem. The only fi rm rules are those governing transitive  verbs (i.e. verbs which can have a direct object) and re fl exive  verbs (see Unit 20). Transitive verbs always use avere ; re fl exive verbs always use essere . 

As for intransitive verbs, some use avere  and others essere . In general, it can be said that verbs of movement (such as andare  (to go), venire  (to come), partire  (to leave), uscire  (to go out), entrare  (to go in/come in)) or non- movement (such as rimanere  (to remain), restare  (to stay/remain)), and verbs of state (such as essere , diventare  (to become), cambiare  (to change), crescere (to grow)) use the auxiliary essere . However, this is not a hard and fast rule: there are intransitive verbs which take avere . 

