Also known as the preterite, the Italian simple past tense describes actions that took place in the past and were completed in the past.

It is often confused with the imperfect tense, which describes on going, past events.

The examples below illustrate the difference with the verb mangiare (to eat):

Preterite
Egli mangiò.
He ate.

Imperfect
Egli mangiava.
He was eating.

The simple past tense can also be confused with a compound tense used more in Northern Italy, called the passato prossimo (close past). Combining the verb avere and the past participle, this describes actions having taken place recently, such as in the same day:

Close Past
Egli ha mangiato.
He has eaten.