hello ( I'm italian, excuse for my english) "ha" and "ho" are the translation of your "have"
IO HO ( I have)
TU HAI ( you have)
LUI/LEI HA ( he/she has)
NOI ABBIAMO ( we have)
VOI AVETE ( you have )
LORO HANNO (they have)
I said "The cook has butter" is "Il cuoco ha burro." But apparently, that's wrong because it's "Il cuoco ha "IL" burro." Can someone please explain why "Il" has to be there?
'Il' is the, usually for a male word. 'La' is for female. 'Le' is for plural females, so it would be 'la donna', 'le donne', 'il ragazzo'. And for plural males you use 'gli', like in 'gli uomini'.
Like others who are better acquainted with Spanish than Italian, I tend to think of "donkey" when I see burro and so want to ask: What's the cook going to do with the donkey/idiot?