Learn Italian: Ho fame, devo cucinare la pasta. - I am hungry, I have to cook the pasta.

In Italian, you use the verb avere (to have) for physical sensations like hunger, thirst, or feeling cold. So instead of saying 'I am hungry', Italians literally say 'I have hunger' (ho fame).

Why is cucinare not conjugated to match 'I'?

Because it comes right after devo (I have to), which is a modal verb. In Italian, when you use a modal verb to express necessity, ability, or desire, the second verb always stays in its infinitive (dictionary) form, just like cucinare (to cook) does here.

Could I translate devo as 'I must' instead of 'I have to'?

Yes! The verb dovere covers both 'must' and 'have to' in English. Devo cucinare perfectly translates to either 'I must cook' or 'I have to cook'.

Why is there no word for 'I' before ho or devo?

In Italian, the subject pronoun io (I) is usually dropped because the verb forms already tell you who is doing the action. Both ho and devo uniquely belong to the 'I' form, so adding io is unnecessary unless you want to add special emphasis.