So you want to know more about the verb avere in Italian?
Ottima idea! Great idea. It’s one of the most important words you’ll learn.
It means “to have”, and you’ll need it for all kinds of things in Italian, from checking into your hotel to trying local specialities:
Ho una prenotazione – I have a reservation.
Avete le panelle? – Do you have the chickpea fritters?
In this lesson, you’ll discover the most common forms of the verb avere and how to use them in conversation. You’ll also learn a few surprising situations where we don’t use avere and the common learner mistakes to avoid.
Cominciamo! Let’s get started.
When to use AVERE
In most cases, avere is the same as “have” in English. We use it to talk about possession, for example:
Ha il biglietto? – Do you have a ticket?
Non ho contanti – I don’t have cash
Just like English, we also use it in a figurative way, to talk about relationships or abstract things:
Ho due figli – I have two children
Ha una prenotazione? – Do you have a reservation?
There are a few exceptions that can cause learners to make mistakes, but don’t worry about these just yet – we’ll show you how to avoid them at the end of this lesson.
For now, let’s focus on the basics: how to use the verb avere in the common tenses.
AVERE in the present tense
We’ll start in the present, because it’s the simplest tense, and you’ll use it a lot when travelling in Italy and talking to Italians! For example:
Ho un biglietto per Bologna – I have a ticket for Bologna
L’hotel ha il wifi? – Does the hotel have wifi?
Avete un tavolo per due? – Do you have a table for two?
Notice how the verb avere changes depending on who you’re talking about? Here’s how that works:
| Avere | Translation | Example |
| *ho | I have | Ho due figli = I have two children |
| hai | you have | Hai tempo? = Do you have time? |
| ha | s/he has; you have (formal) | Ha il mio passaporto = He has my passport Ha una prenotazione? = Do you have a reservation? |
| abbiamo | we have | Abbiamo le chiavi = We have the keys |
| avete | you have (plural, to two or more people) | Avete una guida della città? = Do you (all/both) have a city guide? |
| hanno | they have | Hanno piatti regionali = They have regional dishes |
*In Italian, the verb form already tells us who we’re talking about, so we normally omit the little words like I, you, he, she, we and they. You can learn more about this here: Italian Subject Pronouns
And did you know that the Italian H is always silent? Pronunciation is especially important for the verb avere. To make sure you get it right, listen to the accompanying podcast at the top of this lesson.
AVERE in the past tense (imperfetto)
When you use “had” in the past, you’re usually describing a situation that lasted a while. For example:
Avevo la valigia, il biglietto e il passaporto.
I had my suitcase, ticket and passport.
Avevamo una carta di credito ma non avevamo contanti.
We had a credit card but we didn’t have any cash.
In Italian, we use a past form called the imperfetto in these kinds of situations. Here’s how to use it with avere:
| Avere | Translation | Example |
| avevo | I had | Per fortuna, avevo una mappa! = Luckily, I had a map! |
| avevi | you had | Avevi una bella camera? = Did you have a nice room? |
| aveva | s/he had; you had (formal) | Aveva un biglietto = She had a ticket Aveva una domanda? = Did you have a question? |
| avevamo | we had | Avevamo la valigia piena di cibo = We had a suitcase full of food. |
| avevate | you had (plural, to two or more people) | Avevate la macchina a noleggio? = Did you (all/both) have a rental car? |
| avevano | they had | Avevano vini buonissimi! = They had delicious wines. |
Notice that imperfetto sounds a lot like “imperfect”? That’s exactly what it means! In the grammar world, “imperfect” means incomplete. We use it for things that were ongoing, which is usually the case when we had, or possessed something.
There are other forms of avere in the past, but they’re not as common, so we suggest focusing on the imperfetto first. We’ll show you how to look up the other forms later on in this lesson.
AVERE to be polite (il condizionale)
You know how we can make sentences softer and more polite by saying things like “could you…”, “would you mind…”? Italians do this, too!
For example:
Avresti dieci minuti per aiutarmi? – Would you have 10 minutes to help me?
Italians communicate this feeling of softness and politeness through a verb form called il condizionale, the conditional. Here’s how to use it with avere.
| Avere | Translation |
| avrei | I would have |
| avresti | you would have |
| avrebbe | s/he would haveyou would have (formal) |
| avremmo | we would have |
| avreste | you would have (plural, to two or more people) |
| avrebbero | they would have |
When we’re using it for polite requests, we mostly use it in the “you” form:
| Avere | Translation | Example |
| avresti | you would have | Avresti un minuto? = Would* you have a minute? |
| avrebbe | you would have (formal) | Avrebbe una penna? = Would you have a pen? |
| avreste | you would have (plural, to two or more people) | Avreste un tavolo libero per stasera? = Would you have a table free for this evening? |
*You might notice that some of these translations sound a little weird or overly formal. This is because we don’t use “would” with “have” much in English, but we do in Italian. Just think of it as a way to make avere softer – a bit like saying “would you happen to have…?”
Other forms of AVERE
Congratulazioni! You’ve just seen the three most common forms of avere. These are the ones you’ll probably use most in your everyday conversations with Italians.
There are other forms of avere that you can find in this very handy verb conjugator by wordreference.com. A word of caution: these lists can easily become overwhelming!
But don’t worry, you don’t need to learn them all at once.
In fact, did you ever try to learn a language at school, spending years memorising verbs, only to find that you can’t actually speak it? This is the danger of rote learning: you end up knowing 200 different forms but you can’t use them in conversation!
We recommend focusing on the common forms in this article first, practising them in realistic sentences that you might say in Italy. It’s better to learn and practise the common forms well, so you can use them when speaking to Italians. You can gradually layer on the more advanced stuff later.
Next, you’ll find some everyday phrases that lead to learner mistakes, and how to avoid them so you can use avere like a true Italian.
AVERE: When Italians “have” hunger
Italians don’t feel hunger, they host it, like a guest! Instead of saying “I’m hungry”, Italians say ho fame – I “have” hunger.
There’s a small set of phrases that follow this pattern, for example:
Ho fame – I’m hungry (lit. I have hunger)
Ho sete – I’m thirsty (lit. I have thirst)
Ho caldo – I’m hot (lit. I have heat)
Ho freddo – I’m cold (lit. I have cold)
Learn more about them here: I have hot! 7 common expressions with “avere” in Italian.
Common mistakes with AVERE
When it comes to the verb “have”, sometimes English speakers are the weird ones! Look at these sentences:
– I had a nap, then I had a coffee to wake up.
– I have to go. Have a great day!
If “have” is for possession, why do we use it for actions like “having a coffee”? Italians don’t use avere in these cases, because it doesn’t make sense in the first place!
Instead, they say things like:
Prendo un caffè – I’ll have a coffee (lit. I take a coffee)
Devo andare – I have to go (lit. I must go)
Buona giornata! – Have a great day! (lit. Nice day!)
Learners often translate literally from English and use avere. To avoid these mistakes, here are some simple rules. Use:
- Prendere for food and drink
- Dovere for obligations
- Buona giornata and buona serata for “have a good day/evening”
In most other cases, Italians use the verb fare, which means “to do”. For example:
Fare una doccia – To have a shower (lit. to do a shower)
Fare una riunione – To have a meeting (lit. to do a meeting)
Fare un riposino – To have a nap (lit. to do a nap)
Fare una festa – To have a party (lit. to do a party)
This is a nice rule of thumb: if in doubt, when “have” actually refers to doing something in English, you’ll probably need the verb fare in Italian.
Avere – How to Use This Italian Verb: Review
We’ve covered a lot, so let’s bring it all together with a quick review! Avere means “to have”. Here are three common forms of this verb:
Present
Ho – I have
Hai – You have
Ha – S/he has; You have (formal)
Abbiamo – We have
Avete – You have (plural, speaking to two or more people)
Hanno – They have
Past
Avevo – I had
Avevi – You had
Aveva – S/he had; You had (formal)
Avevamo – We had
Avevate – You had (plural, speaking to two or more people)
Avevano – They had
Conditional
Avrei – I would have
Avresti – You would have
Avrebbe – S/he would have; You would have (formal)
Avremmo – We would have
Avreste – You would have (plural, speaking to two or more people)
Avrebbero – They would have
Finally, don’t forget to watch out for these key differences between Italian and English!
Phrases with AVERE
Ho fame – I’m hungry (lit. I have hunger)
Ho sete – I’m thirsty (lit. I have thirst)
Ho caldo – I’m hot (lit. I have heat)
Ho freddo – I’m cold (lit. I have cold)
Phrases without AVERE
Prendo un caffè – I’ll have a coffee (lit. I take a coffee)
Devo andare – I have to go (lit. I must go)
Buona giornata! – Have a great day! (lit. Nice day!)Fare una festa – To have a party (lit. to do a party)
Avere: How to Use This Italian Verb: Quiz and Vocabulary Cards
Time to check your understanding and remember everything you just learned! Below you’ll find a mini-quiz and some vocabulary cards to help it all go in.
Quiz
How much did you learn? Find out in the quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: Avere: How To Use This Italian Verb
Vocabulary
Avevo = I had
Per fortuna, avevo una mappa! = Luckily, I had a map!
Avevamo la valigia piena di cibo = We had (the) suitcase full of food
Ho una prenotazione = I have a reservation
Hai tempo? = Do you have time?
Ho un’idea = I have an idea
Hanno la birra = They have (the) beer
Abbiamo una bottiglia di vino = We have a bottle of wine
Ho = I have
Hai = You have
Ha = S/he has; you have (plural)
Abbiamo = We have
Avete = You have (plural)
Hanno = They have
Avevamo = We had
Flashcards: Avere: How to Use This Italian Verb:
Remember the vocabulary from this lesson by downloading the digital flashcards
Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial
Transcript: Avere: How To Use This Italian Verb (and Mistakes To Avoid)
Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti! Hi everyone and welcome to “Learn Italian with Joy of Languages”.
M: We started this episode talking about food, so we might as well continue! Luckily this time it’s not me who’s cooking.
K: On Saturdays, friends often invite us over for dinner, and in Italy, it’s important to always bring something, usually a drink or dessert. So this is a conversation we have nearly every week.
M: Listen carefully, can you hear any examples of the verb avere, which means “to have” in Italian? They might sound quite different!
K: Dobbiamo comprare qualcosa per stasera?
M: Sì.
K: Hai tempo per andare al supermercato?
M: No, ma ho un’idea: cosa abbiamo a casa?
K: Abbiamo la birra
M: No, hanno già la birra.
K: Abbiamo una bottiglia di Valpolicella.
M: Avevamo una bottiglia di Valpolicella!
K: Matteo…
M: Veramente buonissimo!
K: So I asked Matteo:
M: Dobbiamo comprare qualcosa per stasera? – Do we have to buy something for this evening?
Dobbiamo – We have to (literally “we must”).
Comprare – Buy
Qualcosa – Something
Per – For
Stasera – This evening
K: Here’s a mistake students often make! In English, we use “have” in all kinds of weird ways, in this case, “have to” means “need to”, to talk about an obligation. In Italian, we can’t use avere in this way. We talk more about these kinds of mistakes over on our blog post, which you’ll find in the description.
Matteo then said sì, yes, we do need to buy something. Then I asked:
M: Hai tempo per andare al supermercato? – Do you have time to go to the supermarket?
Hai – You have
Tempo – Time
Per – For (Italians also use “per” to say “in order to”, “in order to go to the supermarket”)
Andare – To go
Al – To the (“a” means “to” and “il” means “the”. We smush them together and get “al”)
Supermercato – supermarket
K: Here’s our first form of the verb avere. Hai, spelt H, A, I means “you have”. The H is silent. You have:
M: Hai (x3)
K: To ask a question, we just use a question tone, for example, “You have time?” Hai tempo? So you don’t need to worry about saying “do you”. We just start with “you have”, hai.
M: Hai tempo?
K: Next, Matteo said:
M: No, ma ho un’idea – No, but I have an idea
No – no
Ma – but
Ho – I have
Un’ – an
Idea – idea
K: Here’s our next form of avere. I have, which is ho. Spelt H, O. The H is silent:
M: Ho (x3).
K: The H is always silent in Italian, but learners often make the mistake of pronouncing it. Just remember that “I have” is ho. If you sound like santa (ho, ho, ho!), that means you’re saying it wrong :)
And did you notice how the word changes for different people? We’ve got the base form, avere, which means “to have”. Then “you have”, which is hai, and “I have”, which is ho. Let’s learn all the different forms in the present tense. Try saying them before Matteo if you already know them. He or she has:
…
M: Ha (x3)
K: Spelt H,A. Again, the h is silent: ha. We also use this in the formal address, so to say “you have”. So if you’re talking to an adult you don’t know, we say the same:
M: Ha (x3)
K: We have, is:
…
M: Abbiamo (x3)
K: Spelt A, B, B, I, A, M, O. Make the double B nice and long:
M: Abbiamo
K: In Italian, we also have a “you plural”, when talking to two or more people. A bit like “you both” or “you all”. So you plural have is:
…
M: Avete (x3)
K: Spelt A, V, E, T, E
M: Avete
K: They have is:
M: Hanno (x3)
K: Spelt H, A, N, N, O. The H is always silent.
M: Hanno.
K: Notice how in Italian, we’re not saying those little words like I, you, he, she, we etc. That’s because this information is already contained in the verb: we know that ho means “I have”, and hai means “you have”, and abbiamo means “we have”. Italians normally omit words like “I”, “you” and “we”, because they’re not necessary.
Next, Matteo asked:
M: Cosa abbiamo a casa? – What do we have at home?
Cosa – What
Abbiamo – We have
A – at
Casa – home
K: Here you heard “we have”. Remember to make the double BB nice and long.
M: Abbiamo.
K: Then I said:
M: Abbiamo la birra – We have beer
Abbiamo – We have
La – the (Italians often use “the” when we don’t)
Birra – beer
K: And Matteo said:
M: No, hanno già la birra – No, they already have beer
No – no
Hanno – they have
Già – already
La – the
Birra – beer
K: Here we heard “they have” again. H, A, N, N, O. Remember the H is silent:
M: Hanno
K: Then I said:
M: Abbiamo una bottiglia di Valpolicella – We have a bottle of Valpolicella
Abbiamo – We have
Una – a
Bottiglia – Bottle
Di – Of
Valpolicella – This is one of my favourite wines, which comes from the Veneto region.
K: Then, Matteo says:
M: Avevamo una bottiglia di Valpolicella! – We HAD a bottle of Valpolicella
Avevamo – We had
Una – A
Bottiglia – Bottle
Di – Of
Valpolicella – Valpolicella wine
K: To say “we had”, Matteo said:
M: Avevamo (x3).
K: This is the imperfetto, a type of past tense we use to describe things that were ongoing in the past. You can learn more about this over on the blog too. For now, all you need to know is that “we had” in the past is avevamo.
M: Avevamo.
K: Avevamo una bottiglia di Valpolicella, We HAD a bottle of Valpolicella, but it sounds like we don’t anymore! In fact, Matteo then says:
M: Veramente buonissimo! – Really delicious!
Veramente – Really (lit. ”truly”)
Buonissimo – delicious
K: Let’s review the different forms of avere, to have. Try to say them before, or along with Matteo. I have is:
…
M: Ho (x3)
K: You have
…
M: Hai (x3)
K: She or he has? It’s also “you have” in the formal address.
…
M: Ha (x3)
K: We have
…
M: Abbiamo (x3)
K: You have in the plural, so like “you both” or “you all” have:
…
M: Avete (x3)
K: They have:
…
M: Hanno (x3)
K: And you also learned how to say “we had” in the past:
…
M: Avevamo (x3)
K: Let’s listen to the whole conversation again:
K: Dobbiamo comprare qualcosa per stasera?
M: Sì.
K: Hai tempo per andare al supermercato?
M: No, ma ho un’idea: cosa abbiamo a casa?
K: Abbiamo la birra
M: No, hanno già la birra.
K: Abbiamo una bottiglia di Valpolicella.
M: Avevamo una bottiglia di Valpolicella!
K: Matteo…
M: Veramente buonissimo!
K: Avere is one of the most important verbs in Italian, so this is a big topic! Over on our blog, you’ll learn more about the different forms of avere, with tips on how to remember them and some common learner mistakes to avoid.
M: You’ll also see everything written down, and get bonus materials, like vocabulary cards and a quiz.
K: To continue the lesson, head over to our website by clicking the link in the description.
M - See you next time.
K - Or as we say in Italian.
Alla prossima!
Join our Italian club
To get mini lessons delivered to your inbox, access to the private Facebook group and invites to speaking workshops, click here to become a member.
