Back to Italian course
Day 9 Premium

Essere, avere & -are verbs.

Today's lesson is the grammar foundation — essere (to be) for identity, avere (to have) for possessions/age/hunger (same as Hindi), the -are verb pattern that covers half of all Italian verbs, and how to combine them into real SVO sentences with adjectives AFTER the noun.

Estimated time25 minutesGoalConjugate essere, avere, and any -are verb
Day 9 · 4 focused lessons

Your four lessons today

  1. Essere (to be)

    Sono, sei, è, siamo, siete, sono. Identity, location, nationality. Drop the subject pronoun.

    Start lesson 17–9 min
    Essere (to be)
  2. Avere (to have)7–9 min
  3. -are verb pattern8–10 min
  4. Building sentences8–10 min
India bridge

Avere for age, hunger, cold — not essere

English says 'I AM hungry / cold / 22 years old.' Italian uses AVERE (to have): Ho fame, Ho freddo, Ho 22 anni. This maps to Hindi perfectly: मुझे भूख है literally means 'hunger is to me' — Italian 'ho fame' is the same logic. Don't say 'sono 22 anni' (common learner error).

Open Day 9 cheat sheet 1-page PDF
Next upDay 10 — -ere, -ire verbs & irregulars