In this lesson, we're going to look at two of the most common verbs in the Italian language: essere (to be) and avere (to have). They are both irregular verbs so they merit some special attention.

Here's how we conjugate essere (to be):

Io sono (I am)

Tu sei (you are)

Lei è (you are - polite form)

Lui è (he/it is)

Lei è (she/it is)

Noi siamo (we are)

Voi siete (you are plural)

Loro sono (they are)

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And here is how to conjugate avere (to have):

Ho (I have)

Hai (you have)

Ha (he, she, it has)

Abbiamo (we have)

Avete  (you [plural] have)

Hanno (they have)

And here's an example of how they sound, in the first person singular:

Ciao, io sono Anna e ho quasi trent'anni. -Ciao, io sono Marika e ho trentasei anni.

Hi, I'm Anna and I am almost thirty years old. -Hi, I'm Marika and I am thirty-six years old.

Captions 1-2, Amiche Anna e Marika raccontano...

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There are some things to notice right away. If we look at the translation, we see that when we talk about age, the Italian verb is avere (to have) but in English the verb is "to be." That's a quirk. In Italian, you have an age and in English, you are an age. 

The second thing we might notice is that we see an h in the word ho, but we don't hear it. Yup, most of the time, the H is silent in Italian. It has an effect on other letters when following them, but at the beginning of a word, it's silent.

The third thing we notice is that Anna doesn't say io ho quasi trent' anni. Neither does Marika. That's because it's common and correct to leave out the personal pronoun because the conjugation of the verb already indicates who we're talking about. It's not always the case, but it is something to get used to and it happens with all verbs!

As you watch this video, you'll see that sometimes the personal pronoun is present, but it's often absent! Here's an example. Anna is clearly talking about Thomas, so she doesn't have to say lui è italiano. She can say è italiano.

Il mio fidanzato si chiama Thomas, ma è italiano.

My boyfriend's name is Thomas, but he's Italian.

Caption 20, Amiche Anna e Marika raccontano...

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They are still talking about Thomas, so Marika doesn't need the personal pronoun lui.

Ah, è proprio di Roma, alla fine.

Oh, he's really from Rome, in the end.

Caption 23, Amiche Anna e Marika raccontano...

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Here, Marika doesn't say the equivalent of "it." It's implied from the third-person singular conjugation of the verb essere (to be).

E quindi non è proprio la vacanza scelta da me,

And so, it's not a real holiday chosen by me,

Caption 12, Amiche Anna e Marika raccontano...

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Here's an example of the second person singular of essere (to be):

Mamma mia quanto sei bella.

Wow, you're so beautiful.

Caption 45, Volare - La grande storia di Domenico Modugno Ep. 1 - Part 27

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Here's an example of the second-person singular of avere (to have): 

Quanti anni hai? -Ventuno.

How old are you? -Twenty-one.

Caption 8, Amiche sulla spiaggia

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Here's an example of the second-person plural of essere:

Voi siete davvero un gruppo molto bello.

You are, really, a very nice group.

Caption 17, Anna e Marika Il verbo essere - Part 1

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And here's an example of the second-person plural of the verb avere:

...per riciclare al meglio la frutta che avete in casa

...to best recycle the fruit you have at home

Caption 92, Andromeda Marmellata anti spreco - Part 2

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Here's an example of the first-person plural of essere:

Non riesco ancora a crederci, siamo i primi al mondo!

I still can't believe it. We're the first in the world!

Caption 6, Adriano Olivetti La forza di un sogno Ep.2 - Part 23

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And here's an example of the first person plural of avere:

Noi abbiamo amici da tutto il mondo.

We have friends from all over the world.

Caption 9, Adriano Matrimonio con Anita - Part 3

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And to finish, here's an example of the third-person plural of essere and avere:

Il flauto, il violino spesso... sono talmente acuti che vanno al di sopra del pentagramma.

The flute, the violin, often... are so high that they go above the staff.

Caption 33, A scuola di musica con Alessio - Part 3

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Molti di loro dormono con gli animali accanto al letto per riscaldarsi e non hanno neanche le scarpe per andare a lavorare, ma sorridono.

Many of them sleep with the animals next to the bed to warm up and they don't even have shoes to go to work, but they smile.

Captions 36-38, Adriano Olivetti La forza di un sogno Ep.2 - Part 12

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Both essere and avere are used as helping verbs, so it's pretty important to learn them. Hope this lesson has helped!

Write to us with your questions. We answer!

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Poi is a short word, and it's an adverb, but it is used extremely often, and more often than not, it means something other than its basic translation of "then." The English word "then" is also one of those words we find in all sorts of situations, meaning various things. Sometimes it's tricky to find the "right" English equivalent of poi, since it is also used as a kind of filler word in Italian.

Let's look at the dictionary definition of poi. The first definition is "then." How helpful is that? Not so helpful, except in the most basic cases.

At its most basic, poi may be used like "then" to put things in order, in a series. For example, if you are giving someone instructions, you will use "Then you do this..." The same thing can be done in Italian. Here, Daniela is listing the colors and how they work in Italian.

I colori positivi sono: grigio.

The positive colors are: gray.

Grigio. La maglia di Sandra è grigia.

Gray. Sandra's sweater is gray.

Poi abbiamo il nero.

Then we have "nero" (black).

La mia maglia è nera.

My sweater is black.

Poi abbiamo la maglia di Ingeborg che è... bianca.

Then we have Ingeborg's sweater, which is... white.

Captions 4-8, Corso di italiano con Daniela - I colori

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When someone is telling a story, you might ask:

E poi cosa è successo?

And then what happened?

Caption 30, Acqua in bocca - Rapimento e riscatto - Ep 12

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But poi can also mean later. Maybe the easiest way to remember this is in the expression prima o poi (sooner or later).

Se nascevo da un'altra parte,

If I was [had been] born somewhere else,

prima o poi, il destino bussava.

sooner or later, destiny would have come knocking.

Caption 20, Chi m'ha visto - film

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Speaking of expressions, another one that's used a lot is d'ora in poi from now on:

Siamo una cinquantina

There are about fifty of us

e siamo tutti pronti ad avere,

and we are ready to have,

d'ora in poi, come soli referenti voi.

from now on, you as our sole representative,

Captions 24-25, Adriano Olivetti - La forza di un sogno Ep.2

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In other words, we're talking about "later than this moment," or "henceforth." But we can also say da quel moment in poi, when we're talking about the past or the future — from then on, from that moment forward.

Sometimes poi is used like "besides," "in the end," "all in all."

Poi, adesso che ha deciso di candidarsi alle elezioni,

Besides, now that he has decided to run for election,

ha in testa soltanto la politica e il Movimento Comunità.

he has only politics and the Community Movement in mind.

Captions 4-5, Adriano Olivetti - La forza di un sogno Ep.2

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In the following example, we could even leave poi out, and the sentence would make sense.

...perché questo serve per

...because this serves to

rendere ermetica la chiusura,

create the hermetic seal,

quindi non far entrare l'aria,

meaning it doesn't let in any air,

che poi è quella che va a far deteriorare la marmellata.

which is, in the end, what makes the jam deteriorate.

Captions 75-78, Andromeda - Marmellata anti spreco

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So, often, poi is just used as filler. In fact, here, it's even left out of the translation, because del resto is already complete. But poi embellishes it a bit, to mean "also" or "too."

Come prosciutto e melone poi del resto, però la mozzarella...

Like cured ham and melon, for that matter, but mozzarella...

Caption 23, Anna e Marika - La mozzarella di bufala - La produzione e i tagli

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We have just scratched the surface. If you find instances of poi that you don't understand, please let us know and we will add on to this lesson. 

Some words are very similar between Italian and English, and are often cognates, but sometimes there is a letter that seems to be missing and so if we follow our instincts, we might very well get it wrong. Let's look at some of the words that look like they are missing an N, or at least, if we follow our instincts, we might add it by mistake.

Ispirare

There is an example of this tricky phenomenon in a recent episode of Provaci ancora prof. In fact, little Livietta is still learning and she gets it wrong, so her father corrects her. He clearly understood what she was trying to say, but the word she used actually meant "to inspire."

Dai papà, alza la testa e fai resistenza

Come on Daddy, lift your head and press

mentre io ti spingo giù, ispirando forte.

while I push you down, inspiring deeply.

-Inspirando, con la enne, inspirando, ecco.

-Inhaling with an N, inhaling, that's it.

Captions 18-20, Provaci ancora prof! - S2E3 - Dietro la porta

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It's easy to get mixed up. In English the verb is "to inspire," but in Italian, it's ispirare. No N! To complicate matters, the verb inspirare does exist, as we see in the clip, but it means "to breathe in," "to inhale."

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Istruzione

Another word that sounds like the English word — almost — is istruzione (instruction, education). There's no N in the Italian word.

È arrivata oggi dal Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione.

It came today from the Ministry of Public Education.

Caption 23, Non è mai troppo tardi - EP 2

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Istante

This one is easy to understand, as it sounds kind of like "instant " but there's no N.

oppure qualcosa di sgradevole

or something unpleasant

da cui stiamo scappando all'ultimo istante.

from which we escape at the last moment.

Captions 38-39, Marika spiega - Espressioni con i capelli

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Or we have the adjective istantaneo. Plenty of N's there, but not at the beginning between the I and the S.

È un effetto chimico istantaneo, temporaneo,

It's an instant chemical effect, temporary.

Caption 24, Andromeda - Marmellata anti spreco

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Istinto

Però il mio istinto mi dice che non è così.

But my instinct tells me that's not how it is.

Caption 13, Il Commissario Manara - S2EP5 - Mondo sommerso

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Let's not forget the adjective form istintivo (instinctive) and the adverb istintivamente (instinctively).

Iscriversi

Yet another one, not exactly the same word as in English, but close enough, is iscriversi (to register). We might expect there to be an N (inscriversi), but that would be wrong. Also, if we think of the word "inscription" we get a closer match. Your name is "inscribed" in the register.

Olga ha deciso di iscriversi all'università

Olga has decided to enroll at the university

Caption 64, Provaci ancora prof! - S1E1 - Il regalo di Babbo Natale

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"Registration" or "enrollment" can be called l'iscrizione.

Istituto

Dopo la morte della mi' moglie, avrei dovuto metterlo in un istituto.

After the death of my wife, I should have put him in an institution.

Caption 52, Marika commenta - L'ispettore Manara - Espressioni toscane

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Note that istituto can mean either "institute" or "institution." Also, istituzione exists, as well as adjectives such as istituzionale.

There may be other words we haven't covered here. Feel free to write to us with suggestions, and we will add them to this lesson.

Here's another word, sent in by a Yabla subscriber.

Costruire

Poi settemila di materiale edile:

Then seven thousand in construction materials,

vernici, cemento, tegole... -Voleva costruire una casa, no?

paints, cement, roof tiles... -He wanted to build a house, right?

Captions 13-14, Il Commissario Manara - S1EP7 - Sogni di Vetro

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We also have the noun form costruzione.

Questa è una delle più importanti chiese della zona di Pisa,

This is one of the most important churches of the Pisa area,

la cui prima costruzione risale al decimo [sic: nono] secolo.

whose first construction dates to the tenth century [sic: ninth].

Captions 7-8, In giro per l'Italia - Pisa e dintorni

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Costituzione

Lo Stato Italiano ha una costituzione,

The Italian State has a constitution,

Caption 17, Nicola Agliastro - Le Forze dell'Ordine in Italia

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The verb costituire (to constitute) also exists:

Ma anche delle ville che potessero

But also villas that could

costituire un vero e proprio rifugio...

constitute a real refuge...

Captions 16-17, Meraviglie - EP. 5 - Part 13

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Something to look forward to and think about:

As soon as we start thinking of words that have unexpected spellings and pronunciations, we think of words that start with E. 

One common one that comes to mind is, of course, espresso, where we want to use an X instead of an S. In fact, there are numerous words like this one, so in a future lesson, we'll take a look at those. 

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