Avere: Full Conjugation | Italian Grammar

Avere (to have) is the most frequently used verb in Italian — slightly edging out essere in raw corpus counts because it serves as the auxiliary for the vast majority of verbs in compound tenses (ho mangiato, hai detto, abbiamo finito). On top of that, Italian uses avere in dozens of fixed expressions where English uses to be: avere fame (to be hungry), avere sonno (to be sleepy), avere ragione (to be right), avere paura (to be afraid).

The paradigm is irregular but more tractable than that of essere: most tenses can be built from the predictable stem av- (imperfetto, futuro contracted to avr-, condizionale, congiuntivo imperfetto, gerundio), with only the presente, passato remoto, congiuntivo presente, and imperativo showing fully irregular forms.

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The single most distinctive orthographic feature of avere is the silent h in four presente forms: ho, hai, ha, hanno. The h is never pronounced — its only function is to distinguish these from the homophones o (or), ai (to the), a (to), anno (year). Drop the h and you've written different words.

Indicativo presente

Person	Form	Pronunciation
io	ho	/o/
tu	hai	/ai/
lui / lei / Lei	ha	/a/
noi	abbiamo	/abˈbjamo/
voi	avete	/aˈvete/
loro	hanno	/ˈanno/

The h is a purely orthographic device inherited from Latin (Latin habeo, habes, habet, habent). Modern Italian retained it in exactly these four forms and nowhere else in the verb's paradigm — a detail that reveals the historical weight of avoiding ambiguity with very common short words.

Ho due fratelli e una sorella.

I have two brothers and one sister.

Hai capito quello che ti ho detto?

Did you understand what I told you?

Mia nonna ha quasi novant'anni.

My grandmother is almost ninety years old.

Abbiamo bisogno di aiuto, possiamo chiamarti?

We need help — can we call you?

Avete fame? Posso preparare qualcosa.

Are you guys hungry? I can make something.

I miei vicini hanno un cane enorme.

My neighbours have a huge dog.

Imperfetto

Person	Form
io	avevo
tu	avevi
lui / lei / Lei	aveva
noi	avevamo
voi	avevate
loro	avevano

The imperfetto of avere is fully regular and uses the predictable stem av-. No silent h appears anywhere outside the presente.

Da bambino avevo sempre paura del buio.

As a kid I was always afraid of the dark.

Avevamo una casa al mare quando ero piccola.

We used to have a house by the sea when I was little.

Passato remoto

Person	Form
io	ebbi
tu	avesti
lui / lei / Lei	ebbe
noi	avemmo
voi	aveste
loro	ebbero

A classic Italian "1-3-3" passato remoto pattern: the io, lui, and loro forms share an irregular stem (ebb-), while tu, noi, and voi take the regular stem (av-) with regular endings. The double -bb- comes from Latin habui.

Ebbi la fortuna di studiare con un grande maestro.

I had the good fortune to study with a great teacher.

Quel giorno ebbe inizio una lunga amicizia.

That day a long friendship began.

Futuro semplice

Person	Form
io	avrò
tu	avrai
lui / lei / Lei	avrà
noi	avremo
voi	avrete
loro	avranno

The future stem avr- is contracted from aver- — Italian regularly drops the unstressed e of the infinitive in -ere/-are verbs in the future and conditional. Don't write averò — that's a non-form.

Like with essere, the futuro of avere doubles as conjecture about the present: Avrà trent'anni ("She must be about thirty").

Avremo abbastanza tempo per finire?

Will we have enough time to finish?

Non lo so di preciso, ma avrà sui quarant'anni.

I don't know exactly, but he must be about forty.

Condizionale presente

Person	Form
io	avrei
tu	avresti
lui / lei / Lei	avrebbe
noi	avremmo
voi	avreste
loro	avrebbero

Once again, watch the double m in avremmo — single-m avremo is the future ("we will have"), double-m avremmo is the conditional ("we would have"). This is the most common spelling slip in the entire Italian verb system, and even native writers occasionally trip on it.

Avrei voluto vederti prima che partissi.

I would have liked to see you before you left.

Avresti un attimo per me?

Would you have a moment for me?

Congiuntivo presente

Person	Form
(che) io	abbia
(che) tu	abbia
(che) lui / lei	abbia
(che) noi	abbiamo
(che) voi	abbiate
(che) loro	abbiano

The three singular forms collapse into abbia. The noi form abbiamo is identical to the indicative — context resolves it.

Credo che tu abbia ragione.

I think you're right.

Spero che abbiate trovato la strada senza problemi.

I hope you guys found the way without trouble.

Congiuntivo imperfetto

Person	Form
(che) io	avessi
(che) tu	avessi
(che) lui / lei	avesse
(che) noi	avessimo
(che) voi	aveste
(che) loro	avessero

These forms appear in hypotheticals with se: se avessi tempo ("if I had time"), se avessero saputo ("if they had known"). They are entirely conversational, not bookish.

Se avessi più tempo, imparerei a suonare la chitarra.

If I had more time, I'd learn to play guitar.

Pensavo che avessero già pranzato.

I thought they had already had lunch.

Imperativo

Person	Form
tu	abbi
Lei (formal)	abbia
noi	abbiamo
voi	abbiate
loro (formal pl.)	abbiano

Most often heard in fixed exhortations: abbi pazienza (be patient), abbi cura di te (take care of yourself), abbiate fede (have faith).

Abbi pazienza, sto facendo del mio meglio.

Be patient, I'm doing my best.

Abbiate cura di voi mentre siamo via.

Take care of yourselves while we're away.

Forme non finite

Form	Italian
Infinito presente	avere (often clipped to aver before consonants)
Infinito passato	avere avuto / aver avuto
Gerundio presente	avendo
Gerundio passato	avendo avuto
Participio passato	avuto

The participio passato is regular: avuto. When avere is the auxiliary (its standard role), this participle does not normally agree with the subject — but it does agree with a preceding direct-object pronoun: l'ho vista (her, fem.), li ho visti (them, masc.), le ho viste (them, fem.).

Avendo finito il lavoro, sono andato a casa.

Having finished the work, I went home.

Compound tenses

Avere is conjugated with itself in compound tenses — the participle avuto does not agree with the subject (it's not preceded by a direct-object pronoun here).

Tense	io	noi
Passato prossimo	ho avuto	abbiamo avuto
Trapassato prossimo	avevo avuto	avevamo avuto
Trapassato remoto	ebbi avuto	avemmo avuto
Futuro anteriore	avrò avuto	avremo avuto
Condizionale passato	avrei avuto	avremmo avuto
Congiuntivo passato	abbia avuto	abbiamo avuto
Congiuntivo trapassato	avessi avuto	avessimo avuto

Ho avuto un'idea geniale stanotte.

I had a brilliant idea last night.

Se avessi avuto i soldi, avrei comprato quella macchina.

If I'd had the money, I would have bought that car.

Avere as auxiliary for other verbs

This is avere's defining role: it is the auxiliary for transitive verbs and most intransitive verbs that don't express motion or state-change. The vast majority of Italian verbs choose avere.

Ho mangiato un panino al volo.

I grabbed a sandwich on the run.

Hai dormito bene?

Did you sleep well?

Abbiamo visto un film bellissimo ieri sera.

We saw a wonderful film last night.

When a direct-object pronoun precedes the verb, the past participle agrees with that pronoun in gender and number:

Hai visto Maria? — Sì, l'ho vista stamattina.

Have you seen Maria? — Yes, I saw her this morning. (vista, fem. sing.)

Le mie chiavi? Le ho perse di nuovo.

My keys? I've lost them again. (perse, fem. pl.)

Idiomatic expressions with avere

Italian uses avere where English uses to be for many physical and emotional states. These constructions are not optional — sono fame is not a sentence.

Italian	English
avere fame	to be hungry
avere sete	to be thirsty
avere sonno	to be sleepy
avere caldo / freddo	to feel hot / cold
avere paura (di)	to be afraid (of)
avere ragione / torto	to be right / wrong
avere fretta	to be in a hurry
avere bisogno (di)	to need
avere voglia (di)	to feel like / want
avere ... anni	to be ... years old

Ho una fame da lupi!

I'm starving!

Hai ragione, scusami.

You're right, sorry.

Quanti anni hai?

How old are you?

Common mistakes

❌ O fame.

Incorrect — without the silent h, this reads 'or hunger'.

✅ Ho fame.

Correct — the silent h marks the verb.

❌ Quanti anni hai? — Sono vent'anni.

Incorrect as an age answer — Italian uses avere for age, not essere. (Sono vent'anni in isolation means 'It's been twenty years' — a different construction.)

✅ Quanti anni hai? — Ho vent'anni.

Correct — literally 'I have twenty years.'

❌ Noi avremo aspettato due ore.

Incorrect for a counterfactual — this is the future anteriore.

✅ Noi avremmo aspettato due ore.

Correct — avremmo (double m) is the conditional 'we would have waited'.

❌ Hai visto Maria? — Sì, l'ho visto stamattina.

Incorrect — when la precedes avere, the participle must agree.

✅ Hai visto Maria? — Sì, l'ho vista stamattina.

Correct — vista agrees with the elided la (Maria, fem.).

❌ Penso che lui ha ragione.

Incorrect — penso che triggers the subjunctive.

✅ Penso che lui abbia ragione.

Correct — abbia is the congiuntivo presente.

Key takeaways

Avere is the most-used verb in Italian and the auxiliary for the majority of compound tenses. The presente has the famous silent h in four forms (ho, hai, ha, hanno); everywhere else the predictable stems av- and contracted avr- keep the paradigm manageable.

Three points to internalise:

Avere governs feelings and physical states that English assigns to to be: hunger, thirst, age, fear, being right. Memorise these as fixed phrases.
The participle agrees with a preceding direct-object pronoun: l'ho vista, le ho perse, li ho letti. With other word orders, the participle stays invariable.
avremo (future) vs avremmo (conditional) — single m versus double m. The most common spelling trap in Italian conjugation.

Once avere and essere are both solid, every compound tense in Italian becomes a matter of choosing the correct auxiliary and slotting in the past participle.

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