To be and to have: essere, avere

Essere: sono, sei, è…

Here is essere in the present. Learn it as a little chant: sono, sei, è, siamo, siete, sono. You usually drop the pronoun, because the form already shows who it is: Sono Marco is enough.

Notice that sono appears twice: it means both I am and they are, and the rest of the sentence makes it clear. Polite Lei uses the same form as lui and lei: Lei è italiano, signore?

Avere: ho, hai, ha…

Avere follows the same six people. Four of its forms start with a silent h: ho, hai, ha, hanno. You never pronounce it, but you always write it.

The h is there to tell these words apart from others that sound the same: ho (I have) and o (or), hai (you have) and ai (to the), ha (has) and a (to, at), hanno (they have) and anno (year).

Abbiamo and avete have no h. Only the forms that could be mistaken for another word get one.

Essere: who you are, where you’re from, what you do

Use essere to say who someone is (Sono Marco), their nationality (Anna è italiana), where they’re from, with di and a city (Sono di Roma), and what they do (Marco è insegnante). It’s also how you say what day it is: Oggi è lunedì.

With jobs, Italian usually leaves out un or una: English says he’s a teacher, Italian says è insegnante. Nationality words change for a woman, italiano and italiana; you’ll learn that pattern with adjectives.

Avere: what and who you have

Use avere for things you own and people in your life, just as in English: Ho una sorella, Abbiamo un cane, Hanno una casa.

A question can look exactly like a statement; you just raise your voice at the end: Hai un fratello? (Do you have a brother?).

Avere where English says “be”

Italians have their age: ho 25 anni means I’m 25, literally I have 25 years. That’s why the question is Quanti anni hai? (How old are you?). To give your age, sono 25 anni is always wrong.

The same goes for feelings in the body: ho fame (I’m hungry), ho sete (thirsty), ho caldo (hot), ho freddo (cold) and ho sonno (sleepy). Fame, sete and sonno are nouns, so think I have hunger, I have thirst, I have sleep.

Sono freddo would describe your personality (a cold person), not how you feel. For the weather, Italian uses yet another verb: fa freddo (it’s cold out).

è or e: one little accent

È with an accent means is. E without one means and. In speech they’re hard to tell apart, so in writing the accent does all the work: Marco e Anna (Marco and Anna), Marco è italiano (Marco is Italian).

At the start of a sentence, keep the accent on the capital: È italiana? You’ll see E’ in quick messages when a keyboard won’t cooperate, but È is the correct spelling.

A preview: c’è

You’ll often hear c’è, which is ci + è and means there is: C’è un bar qui? (Is there a café here?). Its plural is ci sono (there are). You’ll learn them properly in a later lesson; for now, just spot the è inside.

Common mistakes

• Sono fame.Ho fame.Hunger takes avere: you have hunger.
• Sono 30 anni.Ho 30 anni.Age takes avere: you have years.
• Anna e italiana.Anna è italiana.For is, write the accent: è. Plain e means and.
• O una sorella.Ho una sorella.Write the silent h: without it, o means or.
• Loro anno una casa.Loro hanno una casa.Without the h, anno means year.
• Tu è italiano?Tu sei italiano?Each person has its own form: tu goes with sei.
• Lei sei italiana, signora?Lei è italiana, signora?Polite Lei uses the same form as lei (she): è.

The full table

Learn each verb as one set of six.

Use avere for age and feelings: ho 20 anni, ho fame, ho sete, ho freddo, ho caldo, ho sonno.

Write the silent h: ho (I have) but o (or), ha (has) but a (to), hanno (they have) but anno (year).

È (is) has an accent; e (and) doesn’t.