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## UNIT FOUR The present tense of essere  and avere 

1 Like their counterparts in many other languages, the Italian verbs essere (to be) and avere  (to have) are irregular. Here are the forms of the present tense: 

<img src='content_image/740711.jpg'>

<img src='content_image/740712.jpg'>

As shown in the examples, it is not usually necessary to use the subject pro- nouns before the verb since the forms for the di ff erent persons are di ff erent – sei  can only  be second person singular ( tu ), siete  can only  be second person plural ( voi ), etc. Even with sono , the context always shows whether it means ‘I am’ or ‘they are’. 

The pronoun is only required for emphasis, or to mark a contrast: 

<img src='content_image/740715.jpg'>

