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Il ragazzo ha bisogno di una sedia nuova.

Il ragazzo ha bisogno di una sedia nuova.
The boy needs a new chair.
From Lesson 24:Idiomatic avere (avere fame, avere anni)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Il ragazzo ha bisogno di una sedia nuova.

Why does the Italian sentence use ha (has) when the English translation says 'needs'?
In Italian, 'to need' is usually expressed with the idiomatic phrase avere bisogno di (literally 'to have need of'). Because we are talking about 'the boy' (he), we use the 'he/she/it' form of avere, which is ha.
Do I always have to use di after bisogno?
Yes, when you state what you need, the complete phrase is avere bisogno di (to have need of). Here, he has need of a chair, so we say ha bisogno di una sedia.
Why is the word order una sedia nuova instead of una nuova sedia?
Unlike English, Italian generally places descriptive adjectives like nuova (new) after the noun they are describing.
Why does nuova end in -a?
Adjectives must match the gender and number of the noun they describe. Since sedia (chair) is a feminine singular noun, the dictionary word nuovo (new) changes its ending to -a to become nuova.

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