I was wondering about the conjugation of the verb "sparire" (to disappear). I have the book "Verbi in tasca", and noticed there that, for instance the passato prossimo is "hanno sparito". But when I did a web check I noticed that far far more often the passato prossimo is given as "sono sparito". Are both acceptable? Thanks in anticipation!
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Welcome to Italian.SE!– Charo ♦Mar 15, 2016 at 10:23
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I was intrigued from your web check, and wanted to test it myself. I was surprised when I found this page: verbi.woxikon.it/it/sparire that is completely wrong!– CasaMichMar 15, 2016 at 10:37
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1Would you mind indicating the page of the book where you found the verb? Is it possible that you confused "sparire" with "spargere"?If you refer to the list at the end of the book it does show an example (in this case "capire" at page 11) but it also shows the auxiliary verb to use ("essere" in this case) and you need to use that auxiliary not the one in the example.– Erik vanDorenMar 15, 2016 at 12:25
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1 Answer
Indeed, the auxiliary verb for sparire, as for most intransitive verbs, is essere (as can be checked in any real dictionary), so the passato prossimo is sono sparito, sei sparito, è sparito, siamo spariti, siete spariti, sono spariti (mind the fact that the past participle agrees for its number, singular/plural, with the subject: sparito vs. spariti).
I don't know that Verbi in tasca book, but if this is not an occasional “bug”, the book looks less than useless.
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2Some verbs admit both essere and avere, with slight difference of meaning, for instance correre. But sparire definitely has essere.– egreg ♦Mar 15, 2016 at 13:27
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Maybe ho sparito is a meridionalism similar to sono imparato? (I don't really know, I never lived more south than Tuscany and those forms make me shiver, but it fits the mold)– Denis Nardin ♦Mar 15, 2016 at 16:30
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2No, @DenisNardin, I don't really think so, in this particular case. But there indeed are some intransitive (in standard Italian) verbs used, locally or jocularly, as transitive, such as scendimi le chiavi, i.e., mandami giù le chiavi. (No worries, Denis, nothing to shiver about: linguistic phenomenons are fascinating things to be studied, even in ourselves, not ugly stuff to be wary of.)– DaGMar 15, 2016 at 16:44
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1For what concerns the question it could be a simple misunderstanding on how to use the book as the edition I have seen does not conjugate the verb "sparire". It rather uses "capire" as an example (that the book calls model) and it does specify the auxiliary "essere" in the verbs list. In the notes (page 130) the book shows "sono sparito/a". Unless the OP has a different edition with a typo... Mar 15, 2016 at 18:30
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1@DenisNardin sono imparato does not exist in southern dialects... mi hanno imparato is the "correct" form and means they teached me. But the auxiliary is always avere.– N74Mar 23, 2016 at 13:12