Learn Italian: Il bambino ha molta fame oggi. - The child is very hungry today.

Il bambino ha molta fame oggi.

The child is very hungry today.

Breakdown of Il bambino ha molta fame oggi.

Questions & Answers about Il bambino ha molta fame oggi.

Why does the sentence use ha instead of è if the translation says 'is hungry'?

In Italian, physical sensations like hunger, thirst, and feeling cold are expressed with the verb avere (to have). Literally, this sentence says the child 'has hunger'. This is a very common pattern to remember!

Which form of the verb avere is ha?

Ha is the third-person singular form, meaning 'he has', 'she has', or 'it has'. We use it here because il bambino (the child) is the 'he' experiencing the feeling. Remember that the h is completely silent, so it sounds just like 'ah'.

Why does the sentence use molta instead of the usual molto?

Even though it translates to 'very' in English, here it literally means 'a lot of'. It acts as an adjective describing the noun fame (hunger). Since fame is a feminine noun, the ending must change to match, making it molta.

Since fame ends in an -e, how do we know it is a feminine noun?

Italian nouns ending in -e can be either masculine or feminine. There is no strict rule for most of them, so it is best to memorize their gender when you learn the word. Fame is feminine, which is why it requires the feminine adjective molta.