# To be, To have



## MarX

Hello!

Indonesian doesn't really have the word *to be* and *to have* as it is used in English, whereas Spanish has two words for* be*.
I also heard that* be* is sometimes omitted in Russian.

How is it in your language?

Grüsse,


MarK


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## Joannes

*Be* and *have* are used with many many meanings, even only in English. Languages will have various ways to express what *be* and *have* can (help to) express. Maybe you should indicate more clearly which particular usage(s) you have in mind to be discussed here?


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## jazyk

Like Spanish, Portuguese has two _be's_: ser and estar. We also have _to have_: ter/haver.


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## Outsider

With regard to "to be", there's a cross-linguistic overview at Wikipedia.


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## Oletta

Polish: to be = być, to have = mieć


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## thelightchild

MarX said:


> I also heard that* be* is sometimes omitted in Russian.


yes, in Russian and Ukrainian it is sometimes omitted

English - Russian - Ukrainian

to be - быть - бути
am, are, is - есть - є

to have - иметь - мати
(I) have - имею - маю
(you) have - имеешь - маєш
(he) has - имеет - має
(you pl.) have - имеете - маєте
(they) have - имеют - мають

also in Russian there is another construction for to have, which includes "be" 
I have - у меня _есть (am)_
you have - у тебя _есть (are)_
he has - у него _есть (is)_
and so on...


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## Oletta

so the full conjugation in Polish is as follows:

mieć
(i) ja mam
(you) ty masz
(he/she/it) on/ona/ono ma
(we) my mamy
(you) wy macie
(they) oni mają

być
(i) ja jestem
(you) ty jesteś
(he/she/it) on/ona/ono jest
(we) my jesteśmy
(you) wy jesteście
(they) oni są


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## irene.acler

In *Italian*:

to be = essere
to have = avere


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## Dr. Quizá

MarX said:


> Indonesian doesn't really have the word *to be* and *to have* as it is used in English, whereas Spanish has two words for* be*.



It's commonly said Spanish has to verbs for "to be" ("ser" and "estar") but maybe you'll find interesting it actually has a third verb that in an impersonal form is used to mean "there is/are". That verb is... "haber" (which of course means "to have" and also is even used to form perfect verb tenses) so it's not so clear the distinction between the Spanish for "to be" and "to have"


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## VivaReggaeton88

irene.acler said:


> In *Italian*:
> 
> to be = essere
> to have = avere


 
Yes and also Stare if you are using the gerund:

Io sto ballando: I am dancing.


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## Stéphane89

In French:

*To be = Être*
*To have = Avoir*


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## HistofEng

In *Haitian Creole* there are 3 ways of expressing 'to be'.

One is the 'zero copula' where 'to be' is left out (when an adjective is used), another is 'se' which behaves somewhat like English's 'to be' (when a noun is involved, I believe), and the last is 'ye' which replaces 'se' when the copula comes at the end of a phrase. 

I am dirty
_Mwen sal_

I am an artist
_Mwen se youn atis_

What am I? >>> What I am?
_Ki sa mwen ye?_


The verb for 'to have' is_ 'genyen'_ often shortened_ 'gen'_


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## Hakro

In *Finnish* there is no verb 'to have'. We use the verb 'to be' _(olla)_ as auxiliary. Instead of 'I have something' we say _'something is for me'_ or maybe rather _'for me there is/exists something'._


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## toolmanUF

I am just now beginning Turkish, but I find the way in which it expresses the idea of "having" quite interesting.

From what I've seen so far, Turkish doesn't really have a verb "to have" in the same sense that many European languages do. For example:

Arabam var. I have a car.

It breaks down into, araba (car) -m (my) var (exists), so they are pretty much saying "my car exists."

Araban var mi? Does your car exist? (i.e. Do you have a car?)

(If any of this is wrong, perhaps a native Turkish speaker can help me.)


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## MarX

Thank you for the replies, guys! 



Hakro said:


> In *Finnish* there is no verb 'to have'. We use the verb 'to be' _(olla)_ as auxiliary. Instead of 'I have something' we say _'something is for me'_ or maybe rather _'for me there is/exists something'._


Indonesian basically has a word for _to have_ (*punya, mempunyai, memiliki*) but many people use rather a construction as in Finnish with *ada *(_there's_).

Like for example for:

_I have no money._

We'd say:

*Aku/guä/saya ngga' ada duit/uang.*
= "_I not there's money"._


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## robbie_SWE

In Romanian: 

_To be_ = *a fi*
_To have_ = *a avea*

In Swedish:

_To be_ = *att vara*
_To have_ = *att ha* 

 robbie


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## J.F. de TROYES

In Chinese (Mandarin)

to be =

1- 是 shi4 used as a copula followed by a nominal, pronominal or verbal predicate:

我是法国人 wo3 shi4 fa3 guo2 ren2 (I am French),

but generally 是 must not be used with an adjective, because most of them are adjectival verbs, so a copula cannot be added and "to be" is not translated:

我很冷 wo3 hen3 leng3 (I (very) tired)

这本书很好 zhi4 ben3 shu1 hen3 hao 3 (this book  very good)

2- 在 tsai4 used as Spanish "estar":

我在这里 wo3 tsai4 zhe4 li 3 (I am here )

to have =

有 you3 this verb means also "there is / are " :

我有车 wo3 you4 che1 (I have a car)
这里有吃 zhe4 li3 you4 chi1 (here there's something to eat)


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## elroy

Arabic is like Russian (I think).  The verb "to be" exists, but it is usually not used in the present tense.  Strictly speaking, "to have" does not exist, and is usually expressed using a prepositional phrase ("I have a car" would be "With me is a car," "For me is a car," etc.).  Of course, there is a verb for "to possess" but that's not quite the same. 

It works the same way in Hebrew.


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## jana.bo99

Slovenian: 

To be    - Biti (obstajati)
To have - Imeti

Croatian:

To be    - Biti (postojati, egzistirati)
To have - Imati


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## J.F. de TROYES

In Burmese 

To be

There are chiefly two verbs: ဖြစ် /hpyi?/, expressing a state, close to Spanish "ser" and ရှိ /shí/, to be situated, close to ''estar", but the first is often left out:

He/She is a doctor:

သူဆရာဝန် /θu hsəya-wuN/ (he/she + doctor). ( without a verb) or:

ဆရာဝန် ဖြစ်တယ် /hsəya-wuN hpyi-deh/ ("doctor is" = He is a doctor ) (with the verb)

-တယ် /-deh/ is the suffix added to the verb marking present or past tense,

I am in Paris:

ပါရီမြိုမှာရှိတယ် /payi myó hma shí-deh/

(ပါရီ /payi/ (Paris); မြို့ /myó/ (city); မှာ /mà/ (in); ရှိ /shí/ (to be); -တယ် /deh/ past/present suffix).

They cannot be used with adjectival predicates (like in Chinese), because adjectives work like verbs:

Is it far? ဝေးသလး (ဝေး /wè/ (far); -သ /ðhə/ (tense particle); လး /là/ (inter.part.)

To have

Usually it is replaced by the structure: noun (or: pronoun) + postposition "in" + to be

I have a car: ကျနော်မှာကားရှိတယ် /chənaw-mà kà shi'-deh/ ( to me (masc.) car is); ကျမမှာကားရှိတယ် /chəmá-mà kà shi'-deh/ (to me (fem.) car is)


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## avok

robbie_SWE said:


> In Romanian:
> 
> _To be_ = *a fi *


 
Robbie do you think that Portuguese "fui/foi" ("I was/she was, I went/she went") and Romanian "fi" are cognates? 



toolmanUF said:


> I am just now beginning Turkish, but I find the way in which it expresses the idea of "having" quite interesting.
> 
> From what I've seen so far, Turkish doesn't really have a verb "to have" in the same sense that many European languages do. For example:
> 
> Arabam var. I have a car.
> 
> It breaks down into, araba (car) -m (my) var (exists), so they are pretty much saying "my car exists."
> 
> Araban var mi? Does your car exist? (i.e. Do you have a car?)
> 
> (If any of this is wrong, perhaps a native Turkish speaker can help me.)


 
Yes, tooolman you are right. 

We have a verb "olmak" that can be translated as "to be" but it is not used like in English (I am, you are etc.) but it usually means "to become"


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## robbie_SWE

avok said:


> Robbie do you think that Portuguese "fui/foi" ("I was/she was, I went/she went") and Romanian "fi" are cognates?


 
Well, they're both Romance languages so the Latin origin is present. 

 robbie


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## J.F. de TROYES

In Quechua

*To be* is      ka-y : 

sing.    1 kani   2.kanki     3.kan

pl. 1.exclusive kaniku   1.inclusive  kanchis   2.kankichis     3.kanku

Nuqa turistan kani ( I am a tourist )

When defining someone or something in the 3rd person no verb is used :

Pay dukturmi ( He   a doctor )

Sasachu ñan ? ("difficult + -chu interr.suffix  path = Is the path difficult ?

*To have*     no verb. The "kay" verb is used with a possessive mark or a posposition :

Kanchu wawaiki ? ( is + -chu  children+iki , your = Do you have children ?

Ari, kanmi = Yes, I do

Wasiyuqmi kani  (house+yuq  "with"  I am = I do have a house )


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## Outsider

avok said:


> Robbie do you think that Portuguese "fui/foi" ("I was/she was, I went/she went") and Romanian "fi" are cognates?


They are not cognates, they come from different Latin verbs. _Fui_ is a form of _esse_, while _fi_ is from _facio_.


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## kusurija

Czech:to be: být (non-literal: bejt)
(I) (já) jsem
(You) (ty) jsi (abbreviation: tys)
(He, she, it) (on, ona ono) je

(We) (my) jsme
(You) (vy) jste
(They) (oni/ony, ony, ona) jsou

to be: existovat
to be(where): nacházet se(kde)
to have: mít
(I) mám
(You) máš
(He, she, it) má

(We) máme
(You) máte
(They) mají (non-literal: maj)
to have: vlastnit
to have: muset
to have: vzít si......
日本語(Japanese): 
to be:
有る (aru)
居る (iru)
です (desu)...
...to have: I think there are no special word for this meaning in Japanese. Maybe:受ける (ukeru), but it means more to take than to have... Similary with other synonymous verbs.
Lithuanian:
to be: būti
(I) esu
(You) esi
(He, she) yra
(We) esame
(You) esate
(They) yra
to have: 
(I) (aš) turiu
(You) (tu) turi
(He, she) (jis, ji) turi
(We) (mes) turime
(You) (jūs) turite
(They) (jie, jos) turi


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## Abbassupreme

In Persian:

to be= budan
to have= dâshtan

Nearly, if not ALL, Persian verbs are irregular in the present tense (while far easier to conjugate in other tenses), and the aforementioned verbs are no exception:

I am= (Man) hastam
You are= (Tow) hasti
He/she is= (U) ast ("hast" is used instead instead of "ast" in order to say "there is/there are" and to express a temporary state of being.  No other conjugations of this verb have a second form like "ast" does.)
We are= (Mâ) hastim
You (formal and plural) are= (Shomâ) hastid
They are= (Ânhâ/Ishân) hastand

I have= (Man) dâram
You have= (Tow) dâri
He/she has= (U) dârad
We have= (Mâ) dârim
You (formal and plural) have= (Shomâ) dârid
They have= (Ânhâ/Ishân) dârand

Colloquially, many of these verbs are prone to change.  The "-ad" of the third person is dropped and replaced simply with an "e" sound ("dârad" changes to "dâre").

Similarly, the third person form of "budan", "ast", is often abbreviated in everyday speech.  Instead of saying "Man khasteh hastam.", one can simply say "Khastam" for "I am tired." (Just as "I am" can be abbreviated to "I'm).

 . . . I don't know what motivated me to get so in-depth about this, but I'm just going to leave it at that, for now.


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## Frank06

Hi,

In *Dutch*:

To be: zijn
1. intransitive: Ik denk, dus ik *ben*. (I think, thus I am)
2. copular: Hij *is* ziek. (She is ill) 
3. auxiliary: Wij *zijn* naar het park gegaan. (lit. We *are* gone to the park; We have gone / went to the park)

To have: hebben
1. transitive: Hij *heeft* een auto. (He has a car)
2. auxiliary: Zij *hebben* in het park rondgewandeld. (They (have) walked around in the park.)

Groetjes,

Frank


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## Mizhanah

Norwegian:

to be-å være
i am-jeg er

to have-å ha


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## Maja

In Serbian:

to be    - biti
to have - imati.


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## bb3ca201

in Gaelic / anns a’ Ghàidhlig
The present tense of the verb “to be” is “tha”.  It sounds like you’re laughing: “ha!”
As for the verb “to have”, well…we don’t HAVE it (hahaha).  Instead, we have to use a construction with “to be”.  To this we add WHAT we have – a car, a house, etc.) plus the preposition “aig”.  The preposition “aig” will show WHO has the object in question:
aig + mi (I) – agam                          
aig + thu (you) – agad                   
aig + e (he) – aige                           
aig + i (she) – aice
aig + sinn (we) = again
aig + sibh (you, pl) = agaibh
aig + iad (they) = aca
tha + taigh + agam = I HAVE a house

More examples: I have a cat = tha cat AGAM; you have a car = tha car AGAD...
Hope this helps!


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## chriskardos

in Hungarian:
To be - Lenni (Vagyok, vagy, van, vagyunk, vagytok, vannak)
To have - birtokolni (nekem van, neked van, neki van, nekünk van, nektek van, nekik van)


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## Amras

In Spanish:

To be: ser/estar
To have: haber/tener

These verbs are of course completely irregular


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## MarX

After reading through this thread, I realized that the construction such as
*
I/me exist X* 
for
*I have X*

exists in so many different languages:

Indonesian
Malaysian (I guess. It's almost the same as Indonesian)
Finnish
Hungarian
Turkish
Arabic
Hebrew
Irish
Burmese
Kecua


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## Koenigsberger

Thanks for this thread, everyone. I never would've thought that so many languages have the same verb for "to be" and "to have". O_O

_*In Hungarian:*_

to be - lenni:
(én) vagyok
(te) vagy
(ő) (van) _(could be omitted)_
(mi) vagyunk
(ti) vagytok
(ők) vannak

to have: bírni, birtokolni _(lit. to possess)_
(personal pronoun in dative case) + to be in third person singular:

(nekem/neked/neki/nekünk/nektek/nekik) + van
(lit. _for me/for you_ etc.) + is _(i.e. the same as the Russian "у меня есть" etc.)_

or: to be in third person singular/plural + noun + possessive suffix(es)


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## apmoy70

In Greek:

To be: *«Είμαι»* [ˈime] < ByzGr *«εἶμαι» e̯îma̯i* which is the Classical v. *«εἰμί» e̯imí* --> _to be_, contaminated with the conjugation of the similar sounding verb *«κεῖμαι» ke̯îma̯i*:
_Sing._
*«Είμαι»* [ˈime] --> _(I) am_
*«Είσαι»* [ˈise] --> _(You) are_
*«Είναι*»* [ˈine] --> _(S/he/it) is

Pl._
*«Είμαστε»* [ˈimaste] (ByzGr form *«εἴμεθα» e̯ímetha* which corresponds exactly to the 1st. p. pl. *«κείμεθα» ke̯ímetha* of *«κεῖμαι» ke̯îma̯i*) --> _(We) are_
*«Είσ(α)στε»* [ˈis(a)ste] --> _(You all) are_
*«Είναι*»* [ˈine] --> _(They) are_.

The ancient v. is *«εἰμί» e̯imí* (PIE *h₁es-mi- _to be_, old athematic root present with exact correspondences in several IE languages).

To have: *«Έχω»* [ˈexo] --> _to have, possess_ < Classical v. *«ἔχω» ékʰō* --> _to possess, retain, have_ (PIE *seǵʰ- _to hold, have_ cf Skt. सहते (sahate), _to bear, endure, tolerate_, Proto-Germanic *segaz > Ger. Sieg, Eng. sig, Dt. zege, Swe. seger):
_Sing_
*«Έχω»* [ˈexo] --> _(I) have_
*«Έχεις»* [ˈeçis] --> _(You) have_
*«Έχει»* [ˈeçi] --> _(S/he/it) has

Pl._
*«Έχουμε»* [ˈexume] --> _(We) have_
*«Έχετε»* [ˈeçete] --> _(You all) have_
*«Έχουν»* [ˈexun] --> _(They) have_.

The ancient verb conjugated in Present Indicative is strikingly similar:
_Sing._
*«Ἔχω» ékʰō* (1st. p.)
*«Ἔχεις» ékʰe̯is* (2nd p.)
*«Ἔχει» ékʰe̯i* (3rd p.)

_Pl._
*«Ἔχομεν» ĕkʰŏmĕn* (1st p.)
*«Ἔχετε» ékʰĕtĕ* (2nd p.)
*«Ἔχουσιν» ékʰousĭn* (3rd p.)

***The 3rd p. sing./pl. Present Indicative *«είναι»* [ˈine] --> _(s/he/it) is/(they) are_ < ByzGr. 3rd p. sing. Present Indicative *«ἔναι» éna̯i* (idem) < ancient colloquial contraction *«ἔνι» énĭ* of v. *«ἔνεστι» énĕstĭ* which is the 3rd p. sing. Present Ind. of the Classical v. *«ἔνειμι» éne̯imĭ*.


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## franknagy

chriskardos said:


> in Hungarian:
> To be - Lenni (Vagyok, vagy, van, vagyunk, vagytok, vannak)
> To have - birtokolni (nekem van, neked van, neki van, nekünk van, nektek van, nekik van)



The verb *birtokolni / bírni *is not used in everyday Hungarian speech.

I think is better to answer the "to have" does not exist in Hungarian.
We say rather: *nekem van, neked van, neki van, nekünk van, nektek van, nekik van.*
*The above sentences contain the Dative case of the personal pronouns.*
The verb "lenni" (infinitive) is used in the Spanish sensed "ser", "estar" and "tener".

Similarity to Russian: The 3rd person in Present tense is omitted when it is a copula in other languages.
The 1st and second person is not omitted.

Én öreg vagyok = I am old.
Te öreg vagy = You are old.
Ő öreg = He/she/it is old.
Mi öregek vagyunk = We are old.
Ti öregek vagytok = You (all) are old.
Ők öregek = They are old.

But if the question in the place then the 3rd person forms are present:
Én a házban vagyok = I am in the house.
Te a házban vagy = You are in the house.
Ő a házban van = He/she/it is in the house.
Mi a házban vagyunk = We are in the house.
Ti a házban vagytok = You (all) are n the house.
Ők a házban vannak = They are in the house.

"To have" examples
[Nekem] van egy házam = I have a house.
[Neked] van egy házad = You have a house.
[Neki] van egy háza = He/she/it has a house.


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## Dymn

In *Catalan*:

To be:
_ser _(_ésser _in formal language)
_estar
_
To have:
_tenir
haver
_
The distribution of these verbs is very similar to that of Spanish, specially in the _tenir-haver _pair.


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## Sardokan1.0

In Sardinian :

*To be* :

Essere

Indicative Present

deo/dego/eo/jeo *so* - I am
tue *ses* - you are
issu, issa, isse *est/este* - he, she, it is
nòis *semus* - we are
bòis *sèzis/sètis* - you are
issos, issas, isses *sun* - they are

(the final S are pronounced sibilant, like the Z of Zero in English)

*To have : *

Hàere
Tènere (it means "to keep" but it's often used as replacement of to have, like in Spanish)


Indicative Present (Hàere)

deo/dego/eo/jeo *happo* - I have
tue *has* - you have
issu, issa, isse *hat* *- he, she , it has
nòis *hamus* - we have
bòis *hàzis/hàtis* - you have
issos, issas, isses *han* - they have

***(the final T in the 3rd singular person is pronounced with a sound between T and D)

Indicative Present (Tènere)

deo/dego/eo/jeo *tenzo*- I have, keep
tue *tènes *- you have, keep
issu, issa, isse *tènet* *- he, she , it has, keeps
nòis *tenìmus *- we have, keep
bòis *tenìdes* - you have, keep
issos, issas, isses *tènen *- they have, keep


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