Avere (To Have) in Italian

In Brief

Avere means “to have.” Its present-tense forms are ho, hai, ha, abbiamo, avete, hanno. Besides possession, Italian uses avere for age and in expressions that English builds with “to be”: Ho fame means “I’m hungry,” and Hai freddo? means “Are you cold?”

Overview

Avere is one of the most useful verbs in Italian. A verb is a word that expresses an action or state, such as “eat,” “know,” or “have.” You need avere to talk about what someone owns, describe age, and express everyday sensations and needs. This is core A1 grammar, and the verb appears constantly in ordinary conversation.

Avere is irregular, meaning that its forms do not follow the usual pattern of verbs ending in -ere. You therefore need to learn the six present-tense forms as a set. Fortunately, they are short, distinctive, and used so often that they soon become familiar.

The main challenge for an English-speaking learner is not the meaning “to have,” but the places where Italian and English choose different verbs. English says “I am twenty,” “we are hungry,” and “she is right.” Italian treats age, hunger, and being right as things a person “has”: ho vent'anni, abbiamo fame, ha ragione. Learning these as complete expressions is more reliable than translating word by word.

How It Works

Present-tense conjugation

A conjugation is the set of forms a verb takes to show who is doing or experiencing something. The present tense of avere is:

Subject	Form	Basic meaning
io	ho	I have
tu	hai	you have (one person, informal)
lui / lei / Lei	ha	he / she has; you have (formal)
noi	abbiamo	we have
voi	avete	you have (plural)
loro	hanno	they have

The h in ho, hai, ha, and hanno is written but not pronounced. It distinguishes these verb forms in writing from other short Italian words, including o (“or”), ai (“to the”), a (“to/at”), and anno (“year”). Say ho like Italian o, and hanno like anno; the spelling carries the distinction.

Italian often leaves out the subject pronoun—the word such as io or noi that identifies who the sentence is about—because the verb form already gives that information:

• Ho tempo. — “I have time.”
• Avete una domanda? — “Do you have a question?”
• Hanno due figli. — “They have two children.”

Include the pronoun when you need emphasis or contrast: Io ho fame, ma loro no (“I’m hungry, but they aren’t”).

Possession and relationships

For literal possession, the pattern closely matches English:

subject + form of avere + thing or person

• Marta ha una bicicletta. — “Marta has a bicycle.”
• Abbiamo un problema. — “We have a problem.”
• Hai fratelli? — “Do you have any brothers or siblings?”

Italian commonly omits the equivalent of “any” in a neutral question. The singular indefinite articles un and una mean “a/an,” while a plural noun can appear without an article in broad questions such as Hai figli? (“Do you have children?”).

To make the sentence negative, put non directly before the verb:

• Non ho la macchina. — “I don’t have a car.”
• Non abbiamo tempo. — “We don’t have time.”

A yes-or-no question usually keeps the same word order as a statement. Your voice and the question mark signal the question: Hai tempo? (“Do you have time?”).

Talking about age

Italian expresses age with avere + number + anni (“years”):

• Ho trent'anni. — “I’m thirty.”
• Luca ha un anno. — “Luca is one year old.”
• Mia nonna ha ottantadue anni. — “My grandmother is eighty-two.”

To ask someone’s age, use Quanti anni hai? informally or Quanti anni ha? when addressing one person formally. Quanti agrees with the plural masculine noun anni.

Before anni, numbers ending in a vowel may be written with an apostrophe when that final vowel is dropped: vent'anni, trent'anni. Do not use essere (“to be”) for age: English “I am twenty” corresponds to Italian Ho vent'anni.

Common expressions with avere

Many high-frequency phrases use avere + noun. A noun is a word naming a person, thing, feeling, or idea. English often expresses the same idea with “to be” plus an adjective, so learn each Italian phrase as one unit.

Italian expression	Natural English meaning	Example
avere fame	to be hungry	Ho fame.
avere sete	to be thirsty	Hai sete?
avere caldo	to be/feel hot	Abbiamo caldo.
avere freddo	to be/feel cold	Lei ha freddo.
avere sonno	to be sleepy	I bambini hanno sonno.
avere paura di	to be afraid of	Ho paura dei cani.
avere bisogno di	to need	Avete bisogno di aiuto?
avere voglia di	to feel like / want	Ho voglia di uscire.
avere fretta	to be in a hurry	Scusa, ho fretta.
avere ragione	to be right	Hai ragione.
avere torto	to be wrong	Questa volta hanno torto.
avere tempo	to have time	Non abbiamo tempo.

Several expressions require a following di:

• avere bisogno di + noun or verb: Ho bisogno di acqua; Ho bisogno di riposare.
• avere voglia di + noun or verb: Ha voglia di pizza; Ha voglia di viaggiare.
• avere paura di + noun or verb: Hanno paura del buio; Ho paura di sbagliare.

The verb after di stays in the infinitive (the dictionary form, such as mangiare or partire): Abbiamo voglia di mangiare (“We feel like eating”).

Referring to a person with a sensation

To say that someone is hot or cold, make that person the subject of avere: Giulia ha freddo. To ask “Are you hungry?”, say Hai fame? English learners sometimes try to copy “to be,” but Sei fame and Sei freddo do not express these ideas.

There is an important difference between a temporary sensation and a description. Ho freddo means “I feel cold.” Sono freddo/fredda literally describes the person as cold and can suggest a cold body or, figuratively, an emotionally detached character. Likewise, Ho caldo means “I feel hot,” while Sono caldo/calda describes the person or thing as hot.

Examples in Context

Italian	English	Note
Ho fame, ma non ho tempo per cucinare.	I’m hungry, but I don’t have time to cook.	Sensation plus possession
Quanti anni hai?	How old are you?	Informal singular question
Mio figlio ha sei anni.	My son is six years old.	Age uses avere
Abbiamo bisogno di aiuto.	We need help.	Bisogno is followed by di
Avete voglia di prendere un caffè?	Do you feel like having a coffee?	Plural “you”
Hanno ragione: il negozio è chiuso.	They’re right: the shop is closed.	Fixed expression
Hai sete? C’è dell’acqua in frigo.	Are you thirsty? There’s some water in the fridge.	Everyday question
Non ho paura di volare.	I’m not afraid of flying.	Di + infinitive
Sara ha due sorelle e un fratello.	Sara has two sisters and one brother.	Family relationship
Oggi abbiamo molto freddo.	We’re very cold today.	Molto intensifies the noun phrase
Scusi, ha un minuto?	Excuse me, do you have a minute?	Formal singular address
I bambini hanno sonno.	The children are sleepy.	The noun subject determines hanno
Io ho la chiave; Marco no.	I have the key; Marco doesn’t.	Pronoun adds contrast
Non avete torto, ma dobbiamo controllare.	You’re not wrong, but we need to check.	Negative fixed expression

Common Mistakes

Using essere for age

• Wrong: Sono venticinque anni.
• Right: Ho venticinque anni.
• Why: Italian treats years of age as something you “have.” Sono venticinque anni can mean “It has been twenty-five years” only as part of a different construction and context; it is not a normal statement of your age.

Translating hungry, thirsty, or cold word for word

• Wrong: Sono fame; sono sete; sono freddo (when you mean a sensation).
• Right: Ho fame; ho sete; ho freddo.
• Why: Italian uses avere with these nouns. Memorise the whole phrases rather than replacing English “am” with Italian sono.

Mixing up ha and a

• Wrong: Maria a fame.
• Right: Maria ha fame.
• Why: Ha is a form of avere; a is a preposition, usually meaning “to” or “at.” They sound alike, but only ha means “has.”

Confusing hanno and anno

• Wrong: I miei amici anno una casa.
• Right: I miei amici hanno una casa.
• Why: Hanno means “they have.” Anno is the noun “year”: un anno, due anni. The silent h matters in writing.

Dropping di after bisogno or voglia

• Wrong: Ho bisogno aiuto. / Ho voglia uscire.
• Right: Ho bisogno di aiuto. / Ho voglia di uscire.
• Why: Avere bisogno and avere voglia require di before what is needed or wanted.

Choosing the wrong form for a plural subject

• Wrong: I ragazzi ha fame.
• Right: I ragazzi hanno fame.
• Why: The verb agrees with its subject. I ragazzi is plural, so it takes hanno, even though fame is singular.

Usage Notes

Italian normally drops io, tu, noi, and the other subject pronouns when context is clear. Ho fame sounds neutral; Io ho fame puts extra stress on “I,” often in contrast with someone else. English requires an explicit subject, so this omission may initially feel unusual.

Use tu and hai with one person you address informally. Use Lei and ha for formal singular address: Ha bisogno di qualcosa, signora? (“Do you need anything, ma’am?”). In writing, capitalising Lei can clarify that it means formal “you,” although lowercase lei is also common in contemporary usage. Use voi and avete when speaking to more than one person.

The strength of a sensation can be expressed with words such as molto (“very/a lot”) or un po' di (“a little”): Ho molta fame, Ho un po' di sonno. In everyday speech, Ho fame is often more natural than forcing an English-style adjective.

Be careful with avere voglia di. It often means “to feel like” rather than a strong, deliberate “want”: Ho voglia di una passeggiata means “I feel like a walk.” For a direct wish or intention, Italian may instead use volere: Voglio partire domani (“I want to leave tomorrow”).

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master the following points at A1, but you will meet them later.

Avere as a helping verb

Avere is also an auxiliary verb (a helping verb used to build another tense). In the passato prossimo, a common past tense, many verbs combine a present form of avere with a past participle (a verb form such as mangiato, “eaten”):

• Ho mangiato. — “I ate / I have eaten.”
• Hai visto Luca? — “Did you see / Have you seen Luca?”
• Abbiamo finito. — “We finished / We have finished.”

Not every Italian verb uses avere in this tense; some use essere. With ordinary noun objects, a past participle used with avere normally stays unchanged: Anna ha comprato due libri. Agreement can appear when a direct-object pronoun comes before the verb, especially with lo, la, li, and le: La torta? L'ho mangiata (“The cake? I ate it”). This belongs to later study.

Other tenses and moods

Avere remains irregular in several forms you will encounter beyond A1: avevo (“I had/used to have”), avrò (“I will have”), avrei (“I would have”), and abbia in the subjunctive (a verb form often used after doubt, wishes, or opinions). These forms serve both the ordinary meaning “have” and auxiliary constructions: avevo fame (“I was hungry”), avrei preferito restare (“I would have preferred to stay”).

Idiomatic meanings depend on the whole phrase

The noun after avere may create a meaning that is not predictable word for word. Avere luogo means “to take place,” avere a che fare con means “to have to do with,” and avercela con qualcuno means “to be angry with someone.” These are useful later, but at beginner level prioritise the everyday expressions in the main table.

Practice Tips

1. Recite the forms in two groups: ho, hai, ha and abbiamo, avete, hanno. Then attach one useful phrase to each form: ho fame, hai sete, ha freddo, and so on.
2. Translate ideas, not individual words. Make six personal sentences about age, family, needs, and sensations. If the English sentence uses “am/is/are” for hungry, thirsty, cold, sleepy, or old, check whether Italian needs avere.
3. Listen for the silent-subject pattern. When you hear Hai...?, Avete...?, or Hanno...?, identify the subject from the verb ending before translating. This builds the habit of understanding Italian without waiting for a pronoun.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Subject Pronouns — review how io, tu, lui/lei, noi, voi, and loro identify the subject and why Italian often omits them.
• Next step: Present Perfect — learn how avere works as a helping verb in the passato prossimo.