Learn the key pattern to ask if a store has something in stock
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| Let's take a closer look at the conversation. |
| Do you remember how Sasha asks, |
| "Excuse me, do you have any salt?" |
| Scusi, avete il sale? |
| First is scusi, meaning, "Excuse me." Scusi. Scusi. |
| Note: You may be familiar with Scusa, the informal form of "Excuse me." In this conversation, Sasha is speaking with someone she doesn't know, so she uses the formal form, Scusi. |
| Next is the word, avete, meaning "[you] have." Avete. Avete. |
| Avete is a shortened form of voi avete, "you have," where "you" is plural, as in "you all." In Italian, the voi is usually omitted. |
| Note, the plural form, voi, is used because Sasha is addressing the clerk as the representative of a group — in this case the business. |
| Avete is from the verb avere, "to have." Avere. |
| After that is il sale, "the salt." Il sale. |
| Let's start with sale, "salt." Sale. Sale. |
| In Italian, all nouns have grammatical gender and are either singular or plural. Sale is masculine and singular — a fact which will determine the form of other words in the sentence. |
| Before sale is the article il. Think of it like "the" in English. Il (clearly enunciated). Il. |
| Il is masculine and singular to agree with sale. |
| Together, il sale "the salt." Il sale. |
| All together, Scusi, avete il sale? This literally means "Excuse me, [you] have the salt?" but translates as "Excuse me, do you have any salt?" |
| Scusi, avete il sale? |
| Let's take a closer look at the response. |
| Do you remember how the shop clerk says, |
| "Yes, it's here." |
| Sì, è qui. |
| This starts with the expression, Sì, "yes." Sì. Sì. |
| It answers Sasha's question, |
| Scusi, avete il sale? |
| "Excuse me, do you have any salt?" |
| Next is è, "[it] is" È. È. |
| Note, [it] is omitted as it is understood from context. |
| È is from the verb essere "to be." Essere. |
| Last is the word qui, "here." Qui. Qui. |
| All together, it's Sì, è qui. "Yes, it's here." |
| Sì, è qui. |
| The pattern is |
| Avete {ITEM}? |
| Do you have {ITEM}? |
| Avete {ITEM}? |
| To use this pattern, simply replace the {ITEM} placeholder with the thing you're looking for. |
| Imagine you're looking for milk. |
| Il latte. "Milk." Il latte. |
| Latte. "Milk." Latte. Latte. |
| Latte is masculine and singular. |
| Before this is Il. "The." Il. |
| Il is masculine singular to agree with latte. |
| Together, il latte. |
| The article il does not have a corresponding English translation, but you'll need to include it when using this pattern. Italian often requires the use of articles when they are omitted in English. |
| Say, "Do you have milk?" |
| Ready? |
| Avete il latte? |
| "Do you have milk?" |
| Avete il latte? |
| For this lesson, let's review definite articles for singular nouns. |
| A definite article is like the English "the," as in "the milk." |
| The masculine definite articles are il, as in il latte, "the milk," |
| I' as in l'antipasto, "the appetizer," |
| and lo as in lo zucchero, "the sugar." |
| Il is used before masculine words that start with most consonant sounds. |
| L' is used before masculine words that start with a vowel. |
| Lo is used before masculine words that start with st, sp, gn, ps, z, y, x or pn. |
| The feminine definite articles are la, as in la pizza margherita, "the margherita pizza," |
| and l', when the following word begins with a vowel, as in l'acqua, "the water." |
| Some items are usually put into the plural form. For example, eggs. Le uova. Le uova. |
| Avete le uova? |
| "Do you have eggs?" |
| Avete le uova? |
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