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Some idioms with avere

aver […] anni — to be [X] years old

aver bisogno di — to need

aver caldo (freddo) — to be warm (cold)

aver fame (sete) — to be hungry (thirsty)

aver fretta — to be in a hurry

aver luogo — to take place

aver paura (di) — to be afraid (of), to fear

aver pazienza — to be patient (to have patience)

aver ragione (torto) — to be right (wrong)

aver sonno — to be sleepy

NOTE: When these expressions are given in their infinitive form, the last –e of avere is regularly dropped, as is the case above. This is another example of apocopation. In addition to the dropping of the final –e of infinitives, other examples of apocopation are as follows:

The final o of masculine nouns, of verbs in the third person plural, and of various other words:

Parlan di lui. — They speak of him.

I bei guadagni son facili — Beautiful earnings are easy.

Future tense forms ending in –anno sometimes drop the –no:

Diran tutto! — They will tell everything.

The final e of adjectives, adverbs, and nouns is also sometimes dropped:

con maggior immediatezza — with greater immediacy

Eppur si muove! — It still moves! 

il tenor di vita — the standard of living

VOCABULARY