How to Ask If a Store Has a Specific Item

Learn how to ask if a store has a specific item

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Lesson Transcript

Welcome to Can-Do Italian by ItalianPod101.com.

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask if a store has something in Italian.

For example, "Is there any salt?" is

Scusi, avete il sale?

Adam Russo is at a small grocery store and wants to buy some salt.

He gets the clerk's attention and asks if the store has some salt.

Before you hear the conversation, let's preview some of its key components.

sale

"salt"

sale

qui

"here"

qui

Let's listen to the full conversation.

Scusi, avete il sale?

Sì, è qui.

Once more with the English translation.

Scusi, avete il sale?

"Excuse me, do you have any salt?"

Sì, è qui.

"Yes, it's here."

Let's break down the conversation.

Do you remember how Adam 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, Adam is speaking with someone he doesn’t know, so he uses the formal form, Scusi.

Next is avete, meaning "[you] have." Avete. Avete.

Avete is a shortened form of voi avete, “you have,” where “you” is plural, as in “you all.” The voi is usually omitted, as it’s understood from context.

Note, the plural form, voi, is used because Adam is addressing the clerk as a 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. 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 Adam 's question,

Scusi, avete il sale?

“Excuse me, do you have any salt?”

Next is è, “is,” as in is.” È. È.

Note, the corresponding Italian word for "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.

Note: This pattern requires a noun phrase, in which a definite article is followed by a noun. The gender and number of the definite article will depend on the noun that follows it.

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, it'a 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 would be 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.

The 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 article is 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?

Again, the key pattern is

Avete ITEM?

Do you have ITEM?

Avete ITEM?

Let’s look at some more examples.

Listen and repeat or speak along with the native speakers.

Avete il sale?

"Do you have any salt?"

Avete il sale?

Avete il latte?

"Do you have milk?"

Avete il latte?

Avete l'acqua?

"Do you have water?"

Avete l'acqua?

Avete la frutta?

"Do you have fruit?"

Avete la frutta?

Dov'è lo zucchero?

"Where is the sugar?"

Dov'è lo zucchero?

Did you notice how the last speaker replaced Avete with Dov'è?

Dov'è lo zucchero?

"Where is the sugar?"

With this question, you are presuming that the shop has sugar.

First is Dov'è, "where is." Dov'è. Dov'è.

Dove, "where." Dove.

È, "is." È.

è is from the verb essere, meaning "to be." Essere.

Dove is contracted with è to form dov'è.

Altogether, Dov'è “where is.” Dov'è

After this is lo zucchero, "the sugar." lo zucchero.

Zucchero, sugar. Zucchero. Zucchero.

Zucchero is masculine and singular.

Before this is lo, “the.” Lo. Lo.

Lo is masculine and singular to agree with zucchero.

Note, because zucchero starts with the letter “z” lo is used.

All together, Dov'è lo zucchero? This literally means “Where is the sugar?”

Dov'è lo zucchero?

The sentence pattern is

Dov'è ITEM?

“Where is” ITEM?

You should be aware of this pattern, but for this lesson, we’ll use the pattern

AveteITEM?

Do you have ITEM?

Let's review the new words.

Latte.

“milk.”

Latte. Latte.

Acqua.

“Water.”

Acqua. Acqua.

Frutta.

“Fruit.”

Frutta. Frutta.

Zucchero.

“Sugar.”

Zucchero. Zucchero.

Let's review.

Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then repeat after the native speaker, focusing on pronunciation.

Ready?

Do you remember the formal way to say,

"Excuse me."

Scusi.

And how to say "salt?"

sale

And how to say "the salt?"

il sale

Do you remember how Adam Russo asks,

"Excuse me, do you have any salt?"

Scusi, avete il sale?

Do you remember how to say "yes?"

sì

And how to say "here?"

qui

Do you remember how the clerk says,

"Yes, it's here."

Sì, è qui.

Do you remember how to say "milk?"

latte

And how to say "the milk?"

il latte

Do you remember how to say "sugar?"

zucchero

And how to say " the sugar?"

lo zucchero

Do you remember how to say "fruit?"

frutta

Do you remember how to say "the fruit?"

la frutta

Let's practice.

Imagine you’re Adam Russo , and you’re at the grocery store. Get the shopkeeper’s attention and ask if they have milk, or il latte.

Ready?

Scusi, avete il latte?

Sì, è qui.

Listen again and repeat.

Scusi, avete il latte?

Imagine you’re Emily Erba, and you’re at the grocery store to buy fruit, or la frutta.

Ready?

Scusi, avete la frutta?

Sì, è qui.

Listen again and repeat.

Scusi, avete la frutta?

Let’s try one more.

Imagine you’re Isabella Russo, and you’re at the grocery store to buy sugar, or lo zucchero.

Ready?

Scusi, avete lo zucchero?

Sì, è qui.

Listen again and repeat.

Scusi, avete lo zucchero?

In this lesson, you learned how to ask if a store has something. This plays an essential role in the larger skill of shopping at a grocery store. Let’s review.

Do you remember how to say "please?"

Per favore.

And do you remember how to say,

"This, please."

Questo, per favore.

Imagine you're Jack Jones , and you're at a grocery store, and you'd like to buy an Item located far away from you. You point at it and request "that."

Do you remember how to say "that" in Italian?

quello

Request "that" from the waiter.

Quello, per favore.

Prego!

Listen again and repeat.

Quello, per favore.

You remembered that you also wanted to buy milk

Do you remember how to say "the milk" in Italian?

il latte

Now ask the clerk if the store has milk.

Ready?

Scusi, avete il latte?

Sì, è qui.

Listen again and repeat.

Scusi, avete il latte?

This is the end of this lesson.

In this lesson, you learned how to ask if a store has something, an essential skill for shopping at a grocery store.

Remember, these Can Do lessons are about learning practical language skills.

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