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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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