lui ha
The English phrase "he has" is translated into Italian as lui ha.
lui ha is used to state that a male person possesses or owns something.
Which one should you use?
While lui ha explicitly means "he has", in many contexts, simply saying ha is more natural unless you need to emphasize that it is specifically "him" who possesses the object.
How does it change in a sentence?
The subject pronoun lui is often omitted because the verb ending ha already indicates the third-person singular.
Did you know?
- To express that 'he is hungry' or 'he is cold', Italian uses lui ha fame or lui ha freddo, literally 'he has hunger' and 'he has cold'.
- The word lui shares a distant linguistic ancestor with the Late Latin word illui, which originally served to point out a specific person.
- The word ha is a homophone of the word a, which means 'to' or 'at'. In spoken Italian, you cannot tell them apart by sound alone.
Examples in context
- Lui ha un blog.He has a blog.This sentence is useful for seeing how to use lui ha with a blog.Tatoeba #2907287 by Guybrush88, translation #2907286 by CM
- Lui ha un cane.He has a dog.This sentence is useful for seeing how to use lui ha with a dog.Tatoeba #5455881 by dnnywld, translation #288121 by CK
- Lui ha tre fili.He has three sons.This sentence is useful for seeing how to use lui ha with sons.Tatoeba #440386 by Pharamp, translation #430778 by Archibald
- A lui spetta il diritto di voto.He has the right to vote.
- Lui possiede una vasta collezione di libri.He has an extensive book collection.
- 360 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Francesco and Sofia are talking about a mutual friend's new car.
- FrancescoHai visto la macchina di Marco?Have you seen Marco's car?
- SofiaSì, lui ha un'auto bellissima.Yes, he has a beautiful car.
- FrancescoÈ davvero molto veloce.It is really very fast.
- SofiaSì, lui ha sempre amato la velocità.Yes, he has always loved speed.
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries ha, lui, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
