Meaning of abbiamo in Italian
Abbiamo is the Italian translation for “we have”.
| Origin | From the Italian verb avere, “to have” |
| Pronunciation | /abˈbjaːmo/ |
Abbiamo
We have
Abbiamo is one of the present tense conjugations of the verb avere, which means to have. To be more precise, it’s the first-person plural present tense conjugation of avere, which is a very irregular verb in Italian and means “we have”.
For example, you can say…
Abbiamo due cani e tre pappagalli.
We have two dogs and three parrots.
Abbiamo dimenticato qualcosa?
Have we forgotten anything?
Non abbiamo le chiavi per aprire la porta.
We don’t have the keys to open the door.
Abbiamo fame!
We are hungry!
(Avere fame = to be hungry)
Using abbiamo in Italian
You probably already know that the indicativo presente (present tense) conjugation for the pronoun io adds the ending -o to the root of the verb, or stem (see note for more info).
What’s the stem of a verb?
Italian infinitive verbs end in -ARE, -ERE and -IRE.
Cut off this part and you are left with the root verb.
Examples:
sudare ➡️ sud-
credere ➡️ cred-
dormire ➡️ dorm-
Italian verb endings for each tense are added to these root forms of the verb.
Now, how would you conjugate the present tense of avere, “to have”?
Remove the infinitive ending -ere and add -o!
Avere… ➡️ Av-… ➡️ Io avo?
You may be surprised to learn that the correct conjugation is actually io ho.
This is because avere is an irregular verb. This is also why we will say abbiamo in Italian, and never avo.
That said, let’s look at the present tense conjugation of avere along with its pronunciation.
Present tense conjugation for avere
| io | ho |
| tu | hai |
| lui, lei | ha |
| noi | abbiamo |
| voi | avete |
| loro | hanno |
For example, you could say…
Avete un accendino?
Do you have a lighter?
La squadra ha vinto la finale di campionato.
The team has won the championship final.
Hai visto i miei occhiali?
Have you seen my glasses?
Non ho cani, ma ho tre gatti.
I have no dogs, but I have three cats.
Ho 20 anni.
I am 20 years old.
More free Italian resources
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