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.