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!

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We recently talked about the preposition in: what it means and how to use it. While we don't always use an article with the noun following it, we often do. And when we do use in with a definite article, we combine the preposition and the article to form what we call una preposizione articolata (an "articled" preposition). 

Basically, the n, instead of being at the end of the preposition in, gets moved to the beginning of the word and is followed by an e. After that, the ending will change according to the gender and number of the definite article, as well as whether the word following it starts with a vowel.

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Here's the list:

(in + il) nel 

(in + lo) nello 

(in + l') nell' 

(in + la) nella 

(in + i) nei 

(in + le) nelle

in plus a masculine singular article il

Nel frattempo, riempiamo una pentola d'acqua.

In the meantime, we'll fill a pot with water.

Caption 21, L'Italia a tavola - Penne alla Toma Piemontese

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We say nel because it's il frattempo. But here's a tip. Actually, we rarely say il frattempo. Most of the time you will find the noun frattempo together with the preposition nel. It's curious because the noun frattempo already comes from another preposition fra (between) and the noun tempo (time). In English we can say "in the meantime" or "meanwhile," which mean almost the same thing. But we need to translate both of these as nel frattempo or, alternatively, nel mentre, which means the same thing.

in plus the masculine singular article lo

Questo è fondamentale quando ci si trova

This is fundamental when you find yourself,

appunto nello studio di doppiaggio

in fact, in the dubbing studio

a dover affrontare un, un testo oppure un personaggio.

and need to deal with a script or a character.

Captions 16-17, Arianna e Marika - Il lavoro di doppiatrice

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We say nello because we say lo studio (the studio). So here, you have to pay attention to the first letter of the word following the preposition. It will start with an S plus a consonant, or a Z, and sometimes Y.

Quanti libri hai nello zaino?

How many books do you have in your backpack?

Caption 9, Marika spiega - La particella NE

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Oppure nello yogurt, la mela sciolta diciam'...

Or else in some yogurt, an apple dissolved, let's say...

ridotta a polpa nello yogurt, sempre sul viso, è idratante.

reduced to a pulp in some yogurt, again on the face, is moisturising.

Caption 22, Enea - Mela Part 2

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Il tasto "play" e "pause"

The "play" and "pause" button

si trova esattamente nello stesso punto del pannello di controllo.

is located in exactly the same spot on the control panel.

Captions 15-16, Italian Intro - Serena

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in plus the masculine or feminine singular definite article l'

We use l' when the first letter of the word following the article starts with a vowel. We double the L and add an apostrophe.

Nell'ultimo ventennio,

In the last twenty years,

i coronavirus si sono imposti all'attenzione del mondo

coronaviruses have caught the attention of the entire world

in tre momenti precisi.

in three precise moments.

Captions 27-29, COVID-19 - Domande frequenti

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Allora, può intagliare così,

So, they can make an incision like this,

può intagliare un pomodoro così,

they can cut a notch in a tomato like so,

mettere una pentola d'acqua a bollire

put up a pot of water to boil,

e tenere i pomodori

and keep the tomatoes

nell'acqua bollente per dieci minuti.

in the boiling water for ten minutes.

Captions 10-14, L'Italia a tavola - La pappa al pomodoro

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in plus the feminine singular article la

È da circa otto minuti che i nostri spaghetti

It's been about eight minutes that our spaghetti

stanno cuocendo nella pentola.

has been cooking in the pot.

Caption 38, Adriano - Spaghetti pomodoro e aglio

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in plus the masculine plural definite article i

E due luoghi sacri si trovano proprio nei punti più alti della città.

And two sacred places are found right at the highest points of the city.

Caption 12, Meraviglie - EP. 1 - Part 10

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in plus the feminine plural definite article le

Leonardo, molto spesso, nelle sue opere,

Leonardo, very often in his works,

faceva le figure centrali

made the central figures

quasi fossero delle piramidi

almost as if they were pyramids

e poi i dodici apostoli sono suddivisi in gruppi di tre.

and then, the twelve apostles are divided into groups of three.

Captions 10-13, Meraviglie - EP. 3 - Part 12

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Olivetti è sempre riuscito nelle cose che ha intrapreso.

Olivetti has always succeeded in the things he has undertaken.

Caption 46, Adriano Olivetti - La forza di un sogno Ep.2

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In future lessons, we will talk about other preposizioni articolate that follow these same principles.

See this lesson about di (of): 

See this lesson about in (to, in, at).