Havi is the regular transitive verb for a broad relationship of “having.” It covers literal possession, family and social relationships, body parts, characteristics, available resources, and many experiences. Its grammar is simpler than English have in one crucial respect: Esperanto havi is never an auxiliary for perfect tenses.
Complete regular paradigm
Like every Esperanto verb, havi uses one invariant form for every person and number.
| Form | Function | Typical translation |
|---|---|---|
| havi | infinitive | to have |
| havas | present indicative | have, has |
| havis | past indicative | had |
| havos | future indicative | will have |
| havus | conditional | would have |
| havu | volitive | have!, let ... have |
Mi havas unu fraton, kaj mia edzino havas du fratinojn.
I have one brother, and my wife has two sisters.
Ĉu vi havos tempon por mallonga kunveno morgaŭ?
Will you have time for a short meeting tomorrow?
The form havas does not become different with mi, ŝi, or ili. The endings carry tense or mood, not agreement. Havu is also not a future tense: it expresses a wish, instruction, or desired state.
Havu paciencon; la ĝisdatigo bezonos ankoraŭ kelkajn minutojn.
Be patient; the update will need a few more minutes.
Possession and broader belonging
The direct object of havi is the person or thing related to the subject, so it normally takes accusative -n.
Ni havas malgrandan apartamenton proksime de la stacidomo.
We have a small apartment near the station.
La biblioteko havas trankvilan legosalonon kaj senpagan retkonekton.
The library has a quiet reading room and free internet access.
Possession need not mean legal ownership. A city havas inhabitants, a house havas windows, and a person havas relatives, ideas, or a particular voice. PMEG describes the core relation broadly as one in which the object “belongs” to the subject in some relevant way.
La nova retejo havas pli klaran menuon, sed ĝi ankoraŭ havas kelkajn erarojn.
The new website has a clearer menu, but it still has a few errors.
When ownership itself is the point, posedi is narrower and more explicit. When the possessed item is the grammatical subject, use aparteni al:
Tiu biciklo apartenas al Nora; mi havas ĝin nur prunte ĉi-semajne.
That bicycle belongs to Nora; I only have it on loan this week.
Havi biciklon takes the bicycle as object; la biciklo apartenas al Nora makes the bicycle the subject. English learners often preserve English word order and lose this change in grammatical roles.
Characteristics, body parts, and available resources
Esperanto uses havi naturally for features and resources attached to a person or thing.
La ĉambro havas du grandajn fenestrojn, kiuj rigardas al la ĝardeno.
The room has two large windows overlooking the garden.
Mi havas nur dek eŭrojn kontante; ĉu mi povas pagi per karto?
I only have ten euros in cash; can I pay by card?
Body parts commonly appear with havi in general descriptions: La homo havas du manojn. In a sentence about an action affecting one's own body, Esperanto often prefers the definite article rather than an English possessive: Mi levis la manon, not necessarily mian manon. That is a noun-phrase choice, not a different meaning of havi.
Age can be expressed with havi:
Mia filino havas dek jarojn, kaj mia filo estas okjara.
My daughter is ten years old, and my son is eight.
Both havas dek jarojn and estas dekjara are standard. The second packages the age as an adjective; neither is inherently more formal.
Experiences and conventional collocations
Many abstract objects are conventional with havi: havi tempon, havi ideon, havi demandon, havi problemon, havi ŝancon, havi rajton, havi kapdoloron, and havi bonŝancon.
Mi havas demandon pri la lasta parto de la kontrakto.
I have a question about the last part of the contract.
Ŝi ne venos hodiaŭ, ĉar ŝi havas febron kaj fortan kapdoloron.
She won't come today because she has a fever and a severe headache.
English, however, uses have in many light-verb expressions that Esperanto expresses with a more specific verb. “Have breakfast” is normally matenmanĝi, “have a shower” duŝi sin, “have a look” rigardi, and “have fun” amuziĝi.
— Ĉu vi havas minuton? — Jes, sed poste mi devas matenmanĝi kaj ekiri.
— Do you have a minute? — Yes, but afterward I have to eat breakfast and set off.
There is no single rule that converts every English have + noun expression. Learn frequent Esperanto collocations as whole choices and prefer the specific verb when it is conventional.
Object complements: the state in which you have something
Havi can be followed by an object and a predicative description of that object's state. The object takes -n; the adjective agrees in number but does not take accusative -n.
Ni jam havas ĉiujn dokumentojn pretaj por subskribo.
We already have all the documents ready for signature.
Here ĉiujn dokumentojn is the direct object, while pretaj says what state the documents are in. Compare Ni havas ĉiujn pretajn dokumentojn, where pretajn is part of the object phrase and identifies which documents we have.
La dormanta infano havis la okulojn fermitaj kaj la manojn kunmetitaj.
The sleeping child had its eyes closed and its hands folded.
This construction is useful, but do not force it everywhere English says “have something done.” English I had the car repaired often means that someone repaired it at my request. Esperanto normally makes the causation explicit: Mi riparigis la aŭton. Mi havis la aŭton riparita instead foregrounds the resulting state in which the car was available to me.
Participles and compound forms
The productive active participles are havanta “having,” havinta “having had,” and havonta “about to have.” Their noun forms—havanto, havinto, havonto—refer to a current, former, or future possessor when context makes that useful.
Nur la bilethavantoj rajtas eniri la salonon.
Only ticket holders may enter the hall.
The compound bilethavanto is more natural here than a long phrase meaning “person who has a ticket.” Passive forms havata, havita, havota are morphologically possible because havi is transitive, but ordinary possession rarely sounds natural as a passive. Prefer La libro apartenas al mi over the heavy La libro estas havata de mi.
Active compound tenses with esti are grammatical but seldom needed:
Havinte sufiĉe da tempo por pripensi, ŝi fine akceptis la proponon.
Having had enough time to think, she finally accepted the proposal.
The adverbial participle havinte places the having before the acceptance. In ordinary finite narration, simple havis is usually clearer than estis havinta.
Productive family members
- enhavi means “contain”: the container has something within it.
- ekhavi means “come to have, acquire” and highlights onset.
- havigi means “cause someone to have, provide, obtain.”
- havo is what someone has, often property or resources; senhava means lacking possessions.
La pakaĵo enhavas tri kablojn, kaj la vendisto havigos al ni adaptilon senpage.
The package contains three cables, and the seller will provide us with an adapter free of charge.
Havigi al iu ion presents the recipient with al and the provided thing as the direct object. Havigi al si ion means to obtain something for oneself. These derivatives are fully regular, but their conventional meanings should be learned rather than guessed afresh each time.
Havi is not a perfect auxiliary
English and several European languages build perfect forms with “have.” Esperanto does not. Use a simple tense when it conveys the time relation, or a form of esti plus an active participle only when the completed state genuinely needs emphasis.
Mi jam finis la raporton.
I have already finished the report.
The simple finis plus jam is the normal choice. Mi estas fininta la raporton is possible and emphasizes the state of being someone who has completed it. Mi havas finita is not Esperanto grammar.
See Compound Active Tenses for the limited contexts in which esti + active participle adds a useful relative-time contrast.
Register and frequency
Havi is among the most frequent neutral verbs in Esperanto. It is natural in (informal) conversation, (formal) correspondence, journalism, and academic prose. More specific alternatives such as posedi, teni, porti, enhavi, and disponi pri are chosen for precision, not because havi is stylistically weak.
Common Mistakes
Omitting the accusative object
❌ Mi havas nova telefono.
Incorrect — the possessed thing is the direct object.
✅ Mi havas novan telefonon.
I have a new phone.
Using havi as a perfect auxiliary
❌ Ni havas finis la laboron.
Incorrect — Esperanto does not form the perfect with havi.
✅ Ni jam finis la laboron.
We have already finished the work.
Copying an English light-verb collocation
❌ Mi havas duŝon ĉiumatene.
Incorrect for the everyday activity — this copies English 'have a shower.'
✅ Mi duŝas min ĉiumatene.
I take a shower every morning.
Putting accusative on a predicative complement
❌ Ni havas la dokumentojn preta por subskribo.
Incorrect — the predicative adjective must agree with the plural object, though it does not take -n.
✅ Ni havas la dokumentojn pretaj por subskribo.
We have the documents ready for signature.
Adding person agreement
❌ Mi havas tempon, sed ili havan nur kvin minutojn.
Incorrect — havi has no special plural form.
✅ Mi havas tempon, sed ili havas nur kvin minutojn.
I have time, but they only have five minutes.
Key Takeaways
- Havi is a regular transitive verb whose object normally takes -n.
- Its central “belonging” relation extends to possession, relationships, features, resources, and conventional experiences.
- An object-state complement has no accusative: havas la dokumentojn pretaj.
- English perfect have and light-verb collocations often require a different Esperanto structure.
Now practice Esperanto
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Esperanto →Related Topics
- Direct ObjectsA1 — Learn which Esperanto verb complements are direct objects, how -n marks them, and how object marking remains stable when word order changes.
- Transitive and Intransitive VerbsA2 — Learn which verbs license a direct object, which require another construction, and how Esperanto systematically changes valency.
- Collocations with HaviA2 — Use havi for possession, resources, relations, and abstract states without copying English have-expressions mechanically.
- Compound Active TensesB1 — Combine esti with active participles to express ongoing, completed, or prospective action relative to a chosen reference point.
- Overusing Compound TensesC1 — Use Esperanto's simple tenses by default and reserve esti plus a participle for aspectual contrasts that genuinely matter.
- Esti: To BeA2 — A complete reference to esti for identity, properties, location, existence, impersonal conditions, participial auxiliaries, and productive derivatives.