Italian Adverbs of Time

The main adverbs of time in Italian are:

Prima (before) → used to indicate an action which took place before another.

Prima di andare a lavorare, faccio la spesa.
Before I go to work, I go shopping.

Dopo (after) → used to indicate an action which took place before another.

Dopo essere andato alla posta, sono passato in banca.
After going to the post office, I went to the bank.

Ieri (yesterday) → We generally use the present perfect (passato prossimo) or imperfect (imperfetto) tenses when we talk about what happened ieri.

Ieri sono andata al cinema.
I went to the cinema yesterday.

Avant’ieri (the day before yesterday) →Again we generally use the present perfect (passato prossimo) or imperfect (imperfetto) tenses when we talk about what happened avant’ieri.

Avant’ieri sono andata al mare.
I went to the beach the day before yesterday.

Oggi (today) → We use the present (presente), present perfect (passato prossimo), imperfect (imperfetto) or future simple (futuro semplice) tenses when we talk about oggi.

Oggi vado/ sono andata/ andrò dal parrucchiere.
Today I’m going/ I went to the hairdresser’s.

Domani (tomorrow) → We use the present or future tenses when we talk about what’s going to happen domani.

Domani vado/andrò a far la spesa.
I’m going to do the shopping tomorrow.

Dopodomani (the day after tomorrow) → We use the present or future tenses to talk about what’s going to happen dopodomani.

Dopodomani è/sarà domenica.
The day after tomorrow is/will be Sunday.

Stamattina (this morning) →We use the present, past or future tenses to talk about stamattina, depending on what time of the day it is.

Stamattina compro/ho comprato/comprerò la carne.
This morning I bought/ I’ve bought/ I’m going to buy some meat.

Stasera (this evening)→ We use the present, past or future tenses to talk about stasera, depending on what time of the day it is.

Stasera vado/ sono andata/ andrò a mangiar la pizza.
This evening I ate/ I’ve eaten/ I’m going to eat a pizza.

Stanotte (tonight) →We use the present, past or future tenses to talk about stanotte, depending on what time of the day it is.

Stanotte vado/andrò/sono andata a ballare.
Tonight I’m going/ I went/ I’ve been to a night club.