Avere – to have

Avere - to have
Avere il mondo a portata di mano
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Have an Italian Verb

Avere is one of the most common and useful Italian verbs and has irregular conjugations in just about every tense and mood. Avere literally means "to have," but also serves as an auxiliary verb and is found in many idiomatic expressions.

Avere = to have, possess

Ho una macchina blu.   I have a blue car.
Hai un numero di cellulare?   Do you have a cell phone number?

Avere = to have, be experiencing, be suffering from

Ha mal di testa.   He has a headache.
Abbiamo l’influenza.   We have the flu.

Avere present tense conjugations

Avere is an irregular –ere verb:

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

 Avere = to be

In more than a dozen common phrases (to be hot / hungry / wrong …), avere is equivalent to "be" in English.

 In southern Italy, you might encounter tenere (literally, "to hold, to keep") in place of avere for any of the above.

Avere = auxiliary verb

For the vast majority of Italian verbs, avere serves as the auxiliary verb in compound tenses and moods like the passato prossimo.

Per esempio…

Abbiamo già mangiato.   We’ve already eaten.
Avrete finito per mezzogiorno?   Will you have finished before noon?
Se avesse venduto l’auto, ti avrebbe ripagato.   If he’d sold the car, he would have reimbursed you.

 Related lessons

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Avere - Italian verb

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