Emphatic possession (averci)

In everyday spoken Italian, when you want to say you have something "on you," or when you simply want to emphasize possession of a specific item, you will frequently hear the verb averci instead of just avere.

Replacing Singular Nouns: "Ce l'ho"

When you answer a question about an object, you usually replace the noun with a direct object pronoun: lo (it, masculine) or la (it, feminine).

When you use averci, the particle ci changes to ce before these pronouns. Furthermore, for singular objects, lo and la drop their final vowel before forms of avere that start with "h", becoming l'.

Therefore, ce lo ho and ce la ho both become ce l'ho (I have it).

Replacing Plural Nouns: "Ce li" and "Ce le"

When replacing plural objects, you use the pronouns li (them, masculine) and le (them, feminine).

Unlike the singular pronouns, the plurals li and le never drop their vowels. You will write and say them as two distinct words before the verb: ce li and ce le.

Emphasizing Nouns in the Same Sentence

In colloquial Italian, averci is so common that speakers often use it even when the object is explicitly named in the exact same sentence.

While grammatically redundant (you are using both the pronoun "it" and the noun), this pleonastic use adds a casual, natural emphasis, much like asking "Do you have an aspirin on you?" in English.

Notice how the pronoun matches the gender and number of the noun, even though the noun is still right there in the sentence. Here is another example where the noun and pronoun coexist to emphasize who possesses the item: