French grammar · Beginner
Avoir in French: Meaning, Conjugation, and the Expressions It Builds
Avoir means to have, but it does far more than that in French. It gives your age (j'ai trente ans), your physical state (j'ai faim, j'ai froid), it builds there is with il y a, and it is the auxiliary behind almost every compound tense: j'ai vu, j'avais vu, j'aurai vu.
J'ai deux frères et une sœur.
I have two brothers and a sister.
What it is
Avoir is the second verb any French learner meets and the one that keeps coming back. Beyond possession it covers age, hunger, fear, luck and pain, and as an auxiliary it is the machinery of the past. Its forms are worth over-learning, because you will use them in nearly every sentence you speak.
J'ai, tu as, il a, nous avons, vous avez, ils ont. — I have, you have, he has, we have, you have, they have.
How to spot it
The present forms are short and irregular, and only two of them share a shape with anything else: a is the third person and as is the second, so context and the pronoun tell them apart.
- Tu as les clés ? — Do you have the keys?
- Elle a vingt-cinq ans. — She's twenty-five.
- Nous avons rendez-vous à midi. — We have an appointment at noon.
- Ils ont beaucoup de travail. — They have a lot of work.
Avoir triggers negative de: j'ai un chien becomes je n'ai pas de chien. The article un disappears entirely under negation.
Avoir Quick Reference
What avoir does in a French sentence
| Use | Example | English |
|---|---|---|
| Possession | j'ai une voiture | I have a car |
| Age | elle a douze ans | she's twelve |
| Physical state | j'ai faim, j'ai froid | I'm hungry, I'm cold |
| Feelings | il a peur, elle a honte | he's afraid, she's ashamed |
| Being right or wrong | tu as raison, j'ai tort | you're right, I'm wrong |
| Existence | il y a un problème | there's a problem |
| Auxiliary | j'ai compris | I understood |
| Obligation | j'ai à travailler | I have work to do |
Common Avoir Examples in French
Avoir across the uses you'll need first:
Having Things
- J'ai un appartement à Lyon.
- I have a flat in Lyon.
- Tu as de la monnaie ?
- Do you have any change?
- Nous n'avons pas de voiture.
- We don't have a car.
- Elle a les yeux verts.
- She has green eyes.
For physical features French uses avoir plus the definite article: il a les cheveux courts, not ses cheveux courts.
States English Expresses With To Be
- J'ai faim et j'ai soif.
- I'm hungry and thirsty.
- Tu as froid ?
- Are you cold?
- Elle a sommeil.
- She's sleepy.
- Il a mal au dos.
- His back hurts.
These are nouns in French: faim, soif, froid, sommeil. You literally have hunger, so no article appears.
Age and Measurements
- Quel âge as-tu ?
- How old are you?
- J'ai trente-deux ans.
- I'm thirty-two.
- La pièce a trois mètres sur quatre.
- The room is three metres by four.
- Ce film a plus de vingt ans.
- This film is over twenty years old.
Ans can never be dropped: j'ai trente is not French, whereas English happily says I'm thirty.
Avoir as an Auxiliary
- J'ai fini mes devoirs.
- I've finished my homework.
- Nous avons beaucoup marché.
- We walked a lot.
- Elle avait déjà répondu.
- She had already replied.
- Quand j'aurai lu le rapport, je t'appelle.
- When I've read the report, I'll call you.
After avoir the participle stays put unless a direct object comes first: les livres que j'ai lus.
How Avoir Works
Five patterns explain both the odd forms and the places where avoir turns up unexpectedly.
The Present Is Irregular but Short
Ai, as, a, avons, avez, ont share almost nothing with the infinitive. They are also among the most frequent words in French, so they get learned by exposure rather than by rule.
Ils ont trois enfants et nous en avons deux.
They have three children and we have two.
ai, as, a, avons, avez, ont.
Avoir Plus Bare Noun for States
Where English says be plus adjective, French often says avoir plus noun: avoir faim, avoir soif, avoir chaud, avoir peur, avoir raison. No article appears, because the noun is being used as a quantity rather than a thing.
Tu as raison, il fait trop chaud ici.
You're right, it's too hot in here.
avoir + bare noun = to be + adjective.
They Are Intensified With Très, Not Beaucoup
These nouns behave like adjectives when you want to strengthen them: j'ai très faim, j'ai très peur, j'ai très chaud. What French does not allow is beaucoup de faim or beaucoup de peur in this frame.
J'ai très faim, on mange bientôt ?
I'm very hungry, are we eating soon?
très faim, très peur, très froid.
Avoir Is the Default Auxiliary
Every transitive verb and most intransitive ones build their compound tenses with avoir. Change the tense of avoir and you change the tense of the whole structure: j'ai vu, j'avais vu, j'aurai vu, j'aurais vu.
Nous avions déjà mangé quand ils sont arrivés.
We had already eaten when they arrived.
Auxiliary in front, participle behind.
Avoir Is Conjugated With Itself
The compound past of avoir is j'ai eu, not je suis eu. Eu is pronounced like a single u sound, which surprises learners who expect two syllables.
J'ai eu de la chance ce jour-là.
I was lucky that day.
j'ai eu, nous avons eu.
Common Mistakes with Avoir
Incorrect: Je suis faim. — I'm hungry.
Correct: J'ai faim. — I'm hungry.
Faim is a noun, so it can't follow être the way an adjective would. French says you have hunger, and the same applies to soif, froid, chaud, peur and sommeil.
Incorrect: Je suis vingt ans. — I'm twenty years old.
Correct: J'ai vingt ans. — I'm twenty years old.
Age is expressed as a quantity possessed, so it takes avoir, and ans can never be left out: j'ai vingt is incomplete.
Incorrect: Je n'ai pas un frère. — I don't have a brother.
Correct: Je n'ai pas de frère. — I don't have a brother.
Under negation, un, une, du, de la and des all collapse into de. Pas un survives only when you're insisting on not even one.
Incorrect: Je suis eu un accident. — I had an accident.
Correct: J'ai eu un accident. — I had an accident.
Avoir is its own auxiliary. Its passé composé is j'ai eu, and être never appears in front of eu.
Avoir Conjugated
Avoir has more irregular stems than almost any other French verb: av-, aur-, ai-, eu-, ay-. Each one owns a specific set of tenses.
The four everyday tenses
The present is irregular throughout; the imperfect uses av-; the future and conditional use aur-.
| Pronoun | présent | imparfait | futur | conditionnel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | ai | avais | aurai | aurais |
| tu | as | avais | auras | aurais |
| il / elle / on | a | avait | aura | aurait |
| nous | avons | avions | aurons | aurions |
| vous | avez | aviez | aurez | auriez |
| ils / elles | ont | avaient | auront | auraient |
The future endings of every French verb are these present-tense forms of avoir with the av- removed. That is not a coincidence: it is where the tense came from.
Compound past and subjunctive
The participle is eu. The subjunctive uses ai- in the singular and ay- for nous and vous, both irregular.
| Pronoun | passé composé | plus-que-parfait | subjonctif |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | ai eu | avais eu | aie |
| tu | as eu | avais eu | aies |
| il / elle / on | a eu | avait eu | ait |
| nous | avons eu | avions eu | ayons |
| vous | avez eu | aviez eu | ayez |
| ils / elles | ont eu | avaient eu | aient |
Aie, ait and aient all sound identical to the present ai and a. Only the spelling distinguishes them.
Imperative and participles
The imperative borrows the subjunctive, which is why it looks nothing like the present. The present participle is ayant.
| Pronoun | impératif | en usage |
|---|---|---|
| tu | aie | aie confiance — have confidence |
| nous | ayons | ayons du courage — let's be brave |
| vous | ayez | ayez la gentillesse de… — be so kind as to… |
| participe présent | ayant | ayant fini, il est parti — having finished, he left |
The tu imperative is aie with no s, unlike the present tu as. It appears mostly in set phrases: aie pitié, n'aie pas peur.
Avoir Where English Uses To Be
This is the group of expressions that reveals the underlying logic: French treats these states as things you have, not things you are.
The body
Hunger, thirst, temperature, sleepiness and pain are all nouns you possess. None of them takes an article.
- J'ai faim.
- I'm hungry.
- Elle a soif.
- She's thirsty.
- Nous avons chaud.
- We're hot.
- Il a mal à la tête.
- He has a headache.
Avoir mal à takes the definite article for the body part: j'ai mal au dos, j'ai mal aux dents.
The mind
Feelings and judgements follow the same pattern, and this group includes some of the most useful phrases in the language.
- Tu as raison.
- You're right.
- J'ai tort de m'inquiéter.
- I'm wrong to worry.
- Elle a honte de sa réaction.
- She's ashamed of her reaction.
- Nous avons de la chance.
- We're lucky.
Avoir de la chance keeps the partitive article, unlike avoir faim. It is worth learning as a block.
Needing, wanting and having to
Avoir besoin de, avoir envie de and avoir à all express what you must or want to do, and all of them take de or an infinitive rather than a que clause.
- J'ai besoin de dormir.
- I need to sleep.
- Tu as envie d'un dessert ?
- Do you fancy a dessert?
- J'ai deux lettres à écrire.
- I have two letters to write.
- Nous avons le droit de refuser.
- We have the right to refuse.
Avoir à plus infinitive is lighter than devoir: j'ai à faire means I've got things to do, not I must.
Avoir FAQs
- What does avoir mean in French?
- Literally to have, and it covers possession (j'ai une voiture) as well as age (j'ai trente ans), bodily states (j'ai faim), and feelings (j'ai peur). It is also the auxiliary in compound tenses: j'ai mangé.
- How do you conjugate avoir in the present tense?
- J'ai, tu as, il/elle a, nous avons, vous avez, ils/elles ont. The imperfect is j'avais, the future j'aurai, and the past participle is eu, so the passé composé is j'ai eu.
- Why does French say j'ai faim instead of je suis faim?
- Because faim is a noun, not an adjective: it means hunger. The sentence is literally I have hunger, and the same logic gives j'ai soif, j'ai froid, j'ai peur and j'ai sommeil.
- When is avoir used as an auxiliary?
- With almost every verb. Only verbs of movement and change of state (aller, venir, partir, naître, mourir and their group) plus all pronominal verbs use être instead: j'ai vu, but je suis allé and je me suis levé.
- What is the subjunctive of avoir?
- Que j'aie, que tu aies, qu'il ait, que nous ayons, que vous ayez, qu'ils aient. You need it after expressions of emotion and doubt: je suis content que tu aies réussi.