to have and have not

Allora ragazzi, so far we've seen one irregular conjugation - essere - and last week we saw the regular -are verbs. We're going to continue in the verb vein this week with avere, the Italian for "to have", your second major important irregular verb. Here it is. Remember, "h" is silent in Italian.

avere - to have

io ho
tu hai
Lei ha
lui/lei ha
noi abbiamo
voi avete
loro hanno

A lot of idioms describing bodily or mental states that use "to be" in English use "avere" in Italian. Here's a list for you to memorize.

avere torto - to be wrong

avere ragione - to be right

avere i nervi - to be nervous

avere appetito - to be hungry

avere fame - to be hungry

avere sete - to be thirsty

avere sonno - to be sleepy

avere caldo - to be warm (hot)

avere freddo - to be cold

avere fretta - to be in a hurry

avere paura - to be afraid

avere bisogno di - to need, be in need of

avere voglia di - to want, to feel like

avere + number + anni - to be + number + years old*

*To ask someone’s age you say, “Quanti anni + avere?”

Never say, "Sono fame," "Sono sete," etc., translating directly from the English.

Now for practice, translate the following "I have" sentence:

I have...an amazing Italian grammar teacher!

Check back tomorrow for an exercise. Ciao for now!