Breakdown of Hast du Zeit?
du
you (informal singular)
haben
to have
die Zeit
the time
Zeit haben
to have time
Questions & Answers about Hast du Zeit?
Why is it hast and not "habst"?
The verb haben (to have) is slightly irregular when used with du (you). Instead of keeping the "b" from the root word to make "habst", it drops the "b" entirely and becomes hast.
Why does the sentence start with the verb hast?
In German, you make a yes/no question by moving the verb to the very beginning of the sentence. While Du hast Zeit means "You have time", swapping the first two words makes it the question Hast du Zeit?. You don't use a helper word like "Do"!
Why is Zeit capitalized?
In German, every single noun (a person, place, thing, or idea) is always capitalized, no matter where it is in the sentence. Since Zeit (time) is a noun, it gets a capital Z.
Should I put an article like eine before Zeit?
No, just like in English, you don't need an article here. When asking about time in this general, uncountable way, you just use the noun Zeit on its own without "a" or "the".
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