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.)

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