Do you know how to use essere and avere?

Essere and avere, respectively to be and to have, are two Italian auxiliary verbs. These verbs are incredibly useful and are the first verbs that learners usually learn in Italian.
Do you know when and how to use them?
Let’s see the present tense of these two irregular verbs first:

Essere

Io	sono
Tu	sei
Lui/Lei	è
Noi	siamo
Voi	siete
Loro	sono

Avere

Io	ho
Tu	hai
Lui/Lei	ha
Noi	abbiamo
Voi	avete
Loro	hanno

Avere

Avere can indicate:

• Possession of objects, and qualities.

Examples:

a. Paolo ha una Ferrari

Paolo has a Ferrari

b. Ho i capelli rossi

I have red hair

• The age of a person

Ex: Monica ha 20 anni

Monica is 20 years old

• A relationship

Ex: Ho una sorella e un fratello

I have a brother and a sister

• A feeling or a physical sensation

Examples:

a. Abbiamo fame

We’re hungry

b. Ho paura

I’m scared

Essere

Essere is mostly used to link a subject either to a noun or to an adjective.

Examples:

a. Lui è Marco

He is Marco

b. Loro sono simpatici

They’re nice

c. Noi siamo contenti

We’re happy

Avere and Essere as auxiliaries

Auxiliary verbs are verbs that are used to form compound tenses. Compound tenses in Italian are generally formed either with the auxiliary Essere or with the auxiliary Avere + Past Participle.

But is it possible to know what auxiliary should be used?

There isn’t a specific rule that tells us the right auxiliary to use, however we do know that:

a. In most cases avere is the auxiliary to be used. It can be used both with some transitive – verbs that need a direct object after them – and intransitive verbs such as: mangiare, leggere, parlare, ridere, etc.

Examples:

Ho mangiato una mela (What did I ate? Una mela is the direct object)

Ho letto un libro (What did I read? Un libro is the direct object)

Ho parlato per tutto il tempo

Luca ha riso a crepapelle

b. Essere is used with reflexive, impersonal and passive verbs.

Examples:

Mi sono svegliato alle 9

I promessi sposi sono stati scritti da Alessandro Manzoni

E’ successa una cosa terribile

c. Essere is used with some intransitive verbs such as nascere, partire, arrivare, rientrare, entrare, etc.

Ex: Sono nato il 20 giugno 1975

d. Essere is used with some verbs indicating movement or a state such as andare, venire, arrivare, uscire, stare, rimanere, etc.

Examples:

Sono uscita di casa alle 9

Sono rimasta a casa di Lucia fino alle 9

Italian verbs with double auxiliary

In Italian some verbs can have both essere and avere as auxiliary in compound tenses.

Some of these verbs are aumentare, cambiare, cominciare, continuare, correre, crescere, diminuire, fuggire, finire, guarire, migliorare, passare, salire, saltare, suonare, toccare, trascorrere.

Usually, we should use essere when these verbs are used in an intransitive way. By contrast, we should use avere when these verbs are used in a transitive way.

Examples:

a. Ho finito i compiti

I’ve finished my homework

b. La lezione è finita

The lesson is over

c. Giulia ha cresciuto due figli

Giulia raised two children

d. Mario è cresciuto

Mario has grown up

I hope this article helped you understand when and how to use the verb avere and essere in Italian. If it did help you, don’t forget to share it!

If you want to have all the rules of Italian grammar in one book, check out my Sos Italian Grammar A1-C2.

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