Vocabulary
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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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