How to use CE L'HO in Italian

What does CE L’HO mean??? “Ce l’ho” translates to “I have it.” 

Download the full lesson in PDF format here!

If somebody asks you do you have a pen… and you have it you can say

• Hai una penna! (Do you have a pen?)
• sì! Ce l’ho! (Yes, I have it!)

If you do not have a pen you will reply in the negative form NO, non ce l’ho! (No, I don't have it!)

CE doesn’t really have a particular grammar purpose. It is used to help with saying the sounds in a smooth way. So my suggestion here is to remember the full sentence 

CE L’HO / NON CE l’ho!

So when the verb AVERE has before it a direct object pronoun (lo, la li, le) you will use the sentence CE l’ho / non ce l’ho to say that you have something or not.

• Hai un gatto? – Do you have a cat?
• sì, Ce l’ho – Yes, I have it 
• Non ce l’ho – No, I don’t have it

Remember that HO is the verb avere. In these examples I used only the first person but you can use the CE before all the different conjugations singular, plural and so on… for example:

• Hai le caramelle? Si le ho!
• Avete i vostri documenti? Si li abbiamo!
• Hai una giacca da prestarmi? Si ce l’ho!

Now, you have probably noticed from the above examples that in some cases you have an apostrophe L’ and in others you don’t. The L’ will be used only in the singular form with IT

• Ce l’ho (I have it) – ce li/le ho (I have them) 
• Ce l’hai (you have it) – ce li/le hai (you have them) 
• Ce l’ha (he/has has it)- ce li/le ha (he/she has them) 
• Ce l’abbiamo (we have it) – ce li/le abbiamo (we have them) 
• Ce l’avete (you all have it) – ce li/le avete (you all have them) 
• Ce l’hanno (they have it) – ce li/le hanno (they have them) 

Now how can you say that you are upset with a person or that you are mad at them?

Well you can use the same sentence structure and you can add the preposition CON

This creates a sentence like CE L’HO CON TE! which means I’m mad/ hangry upset with you!

So you will simply add CON at the end. 

• Ce l’ho con il mio capo perché mi fa lavorare troppo! – I am angry with my boss because he makes me work too much
• Ce l’ho con loro perché non mi hanno lasciato da sola! - I’m angry with them because they left me alone!

You can also have the negative form! Non ce l’ho con te! that you can use if on the other hand you are not mad or upset with anybody! 

Or you can ask a question: Ce l'hai con me?