Tu hai un cane.

to have

Breakdown of Tu hai un cane.

• tu: you
• il cane: the dog

Questions & Answers about Tu hai un cane.

Why do we use hai instead of another form of the verb avere?

In Italian, hai is the second-person singular form of avere (meaning to have). Since the subject is tu (second-person singular, informal), you use hai.

Do we always need to say tu at the start of the sentence?

Italian often drops subject pronouns because the verb ending indicates the subject. Saying Tu hai un cane emphasizes tu, but typically Italians would just say Hai un cane.

Why is the article un used before cane?

Un is the indefinite article used before masculine nouns starting with a consonant. Since cane is masculine and starts with a consonant, un is correct here.

Is cane masculine or feminine, and does that matter?

Cane is a masculine noun in Italian. Using the correct indefinite article (un) and any matching adjectives or pronouns depends on the noun’s gender.

Can this sentence mean anything else, or can it only mean You have a dog?

It specifically means You have a dog. It can’t easily be read as something else in Italian, because hai (from avere) is about possession, and cane clearly refers to a dog.