The passato prossimo—grammatically referred to as the present perfect—is a compound tense (tempo composto) that expresses a fact or action that happened in the recent past or that occurred long ago but still has ties to the present.
Here are a few examples of how the passato prossimo appears in Italian:
Ho appena chiamato. (I just called.)
Mi sono iscritto all’università quattro anni fa. (I entered the university four years ago.)
Questa mattina sono uscito presto. (This morning I left early.)
Il Petrarca ha scritto sonetti immortali. (Petrarca wrote enduring sonnets.)
The following table lists some adverbial expressions that are often used with the passato prossimo:
COMMON ADVERBIAL EXPRESSIONS
ieri
yesterday
ieri pomeriggio
yesterday afternoon
ieri sera
last night
il mese scorso
last month
l’altro giorno
the other day
stamani
this morning
tre giorni fa
three days ago