The verb avere
Avere = to have. Like essere, it's irregular and used constantly β for possession, of course, but also for a cluster of states that English expresses with 'to be': avere fame (to be hungry, literally 'to have hunger'), avere sete (to be thirsty), and crucially avere ... anni (to be ... years old). The H at the start of ho, hai, ha, hanno is silent β it's only there in writing to keep these forms apart from look-alike words.
Avere β full conjugation
io ho = I have. tu hai = you have. lui ha / lei ha = he/she has. noi abbiamo = we have. voi avete = you all have. loro hanno = they have. Chant it: ho, hai, ha, abbiamo, avete, hanno. As with essere, the pronoun is usually dropped: Ho un gatto rather than Io ho un gatto.
Why the silent H
The H is purely orthographic. ho is pronounced just like o (the letter, or 'or'); hai sounds like ai ('to the'); ha sounds like a (the preposition); hanno sounds like anno (year). The H is there so the writing distinguishes them. Ho un anno = I have a year (of something), Ho un anno vs Ho un anno β context, but the H tells your eye 'this is the verb avere'.
Avere fame, sete, sonno β Italian states
Where English says 'I AM hungry', Italian says 'I HAVE hunger': Ho fame = I'm hungry. Hai sete? = Are you thirsty? Ha sonno = he/she is sleepy. Abbiamo freddo = we're cold. Avete caldo? = are you all hot? Hanno paura = they're scared. The pattern is avere + bare noun (no article): not ho una fame, just ho fame.
Age: avere β¦ anni
Italian doesn't say 'I am 30'. It says Ho trent'anni β I have thirty years. Quanti anni hai? = how old are you? (literally 'how many years do you have?'). Ho venti anni. = I'm twenty. Mio fratello ha dieci anni. = my brother is ten. The word anno (year) becomes anni in the plural β and you'll always use the plural here, except for un anno = one year old.
Possession
The straightforward use: Ho un gatto. = I have a cat. Anna ha una macchina nuova. = Anna has a new car. Avete fratelli? = do you have brothers/siblings? Non hanno tempo. = they don't have time. (We'll do non properly in lesson 8 β for now, just notice it goes before the verb.)
