The Italian Verbs Essere and Avere

This video might seam easy for many of you but for beginners it is important that these verbs are clearly understood from an early stage of their learning adventure.

Why do I say this? Well because you will need to use these verbs if you are creating basic sentences and you will not always use them in the same way as you do with those same verbs in English. 

So what am I talking about? Well I’m talking about the verbs ESSERE (to be) and  AVERE (to have) today we will conjugate them at the present tense.

Let’s see how they are conjugated:

The verb ESSERE

• Io sono
• tu sei 
• lui / lei è
• noi siamo 
• voi siete
• loro sono

Remember that when you are writing it out you absolutely need to remember to insert the accent when you are using the third person singular:

• lui / lei è
• lui è Marco
• lei è Maria

If you do not write the graphic accent you are not using a verb but you are using the conjunction e… which means AND:

• Marco e Maria… this would be MARCO and MARIA…

So be careful and remember the accent when you write it out!

Chant it aloud… repeat it in your head so as to memorize it and remember how it is conjugated. If you need to… feel free to stop the video and repeat it a couple of times before moving on.

When will you use the verb ESSERE?

You will need it when you want to say your name: 

• Io sono Giulia? 

If you want to say what your job is: 

• Lei è insegnante.

If you want to say where you are from

• Tu sei francese

You will also use it before an adjective when you are describing a person… 

• Noi siamo bassi, voi siete alti!
• Sono bionda, Sei castana

Or if you want to express how you are feeling:

• Io sono felice
• Tu sei triste
• Voi siete stanchi

Or you can use it also with a particular meaning that is linked with a location… for example… if I say "Sono al parco" ....I want to say that I’m at the park.

So a synonym in Italian in this case would be “trovarsi” 

"Trovarsi" means to be found at a place or location.

For example I can say a sentence like “mi trovo al parco” and it would mean the same as “sono al parco”

How about the other verb… the verb AVERE?

This is how you conjugate the verb in the present tense form:

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

just like with the verb ESSERE you also need to be careful when you write out the verb AVERE! In this case you do not have an accent but you have a silent H that absolutely needs to be there with the first, second third person singular and with the third person plural. If you do not write out that little H those words without the H change meaning… so you will no longer have a verb! so beeee veerrry careful!!!!

If you have doubts… always stop and think when you are writing something out… re read your sentence and ask yourself… is this a verb that I’m using? if so you need that little H.

Ok… so how do we use this verb?

You will use it to say your age

• Ho 34 anni

You will use before a noun if you have to describe a person… for example:

• Ho i capelli neri 

In this case you are using the verb AVERE (ho) and a NOUN capelli biondi.

You can also describe a person with the verb ESSERE just like we saw before but in that case you are using the verb ESSERE and then an ADJECTIVE … for example in the sentence:

• Sono bionda
• Sono is your verb
• bionda (blond) is your adjective

You can also use the verb AVERE to express how you psychically feel

• Ho fame (I’m hungry)
• Ho sete (I’m thirsty)
• Ho sonno (I’m sleepy)

Be careful here because in English you would use the verb to be and not to have!

One last thing that I want to tell you about this verb is that you can use it with the meaning of possession… for example… I have a blu car…

I would say "Ho una macchina rossa"

• La mia amica ha una casa al mare (My friend has… in the sense of owning… a house at the beach).

Do not worry if these two verbs confuse you! Remember that you are learning a new language! This is not an easy thing to do! Take it easy… write out the verbs… chant them to yourself and do not give up!