Avoir is a very important auxiliary verb in French. Below you can see the different conjugations of avoir and at the bottom of the page you can read about how the verb is used and pronounced correctly.
Conjugation of avoir
Indicatif (indicative)
Présent (present)
- j'ai
- tu as
- il a
- nous avons
- vous avez
- ils ont
Example: j'ai envie de manger = I feel like eating
Passé composé (present perfect)
- j'ai eu
- tu as eu
- il a eu
- nous avons eu
- vous avez eu
- ils ont eu
Example: j'ai eu envie de manger = I have felt like eating
Imparfait (imperfect)
- j'avais
- tu avais
- il avait
- nous avions
- vous aviez
- ils avaient
Example: j'avais envie de manger = I felt like eating
Plus-que-parfait (pluperfect)
- j'avais eu
- tu avais eu
- il avait eu
- nous avions eu
- vous aviez eu
- ils avaient eu
Example: j'avais eu envie de manger = I had been wanting to eat
Futur (future)
- j'aurai
- tu auras
- il aura
- nous aurons
- vous aurez
- ils auront
Example: j'aurai envie de manger = I get the urge to eat
Futur passé (future perfect)
- j'aurai eu
- tu auras eu
- il aura eu
- nous aurons eu
- vous aurez eu
- ils auront eu
Example: j'aurai eu envie de manger = I would have wanted to eat
Passé simple (simple past)
- j'eus
- tu eus
- il eut
- nous eûmes
- vous eûtes
- ils eurent
Example: j'eus peine à trouver la maison = I had a hard time finding the house
Passé antérieur (past perfect anterior)
- j'eus eu
- tu eus eu
- il eut eu
- nous eûmes eu
- vous eûtes eu
- ils eurent eu
Example: j'eus eu chaud = I had been hot
Conditionnel (future of the past)
Conditionnel présent
- j'aurais
- tu aurais
- il aurait
- nous aurions
- vous auriez
- ils auraient
Example: j'aurais adoré être policier = I would have loved to be a police officer
Conditionnel passé
- j'aurais eu
- tu aurais eu
- il aurait eu
- nous aurions eu
- vous auriez eu
- ils auraient eu
Example: si il m'avait payé des millions, j'aurais eu un autre statut = if he had paid me millions, I would have had a different status
Subjonctif (subjunctive)
Subjonctif présent
- que j'aie
- que tu aies
- qu'il ait
- que nous ayons
- que vous ayez
- qu'ils aient
Example: le seul problème que j'aie dans tout ceci, c'est que l'argent n'a jamais été versé = the only problem I have in all this is that the money has never been transferred
Subjonctif passé
- que j'aie eu
- que tu aies eu
- qu'il ait eu
- que nous ayons eu
- que vous ayez eu
- qu'ils aient eu
Example: c'est un des meilleurs restaurants que j'aie eu l'opportunité de visiter = it is one of the best restaurants I have had the opportunity to visit
Subjonctif imparfait
- que j'eusse
- que tu eusses
- qu'il eût
- que nous eussions
- que vous eussiez
- qu'ils eussent
Example: j'eusse aimé vivre auprès d'une jeune géante = I would have loved to live next to a young giant
Subjonctif plus-que-parfait
- que j'eusse eu
- que tu eusses eu
- qu'il eût eu
- que nous eussions eu
- que vous eussiez eu
- qu'ils eussent eu
Example: il répondit à ma question avant que j'eusse eu le temps de la formuler = he answered my question before I had time to formulate it
Impératif (imperative)
Impératif présent
- (tu) aie
- (nous) ayons
- (vous) ayez
Example: le personnel le plus attentionné que nous ayons rencontré = the most attentive staff we have met
Impératif passé
- (tu) aie eu
- (nous) ayons eu
- (vous) ayez eu
Example: c'est qui la meilleure amie que tu aie eu ? = who is the best friend you have ever had?
Infinitif (infinitive)
Infinitif présent
- avoir
Translation of: avoir = to have
Infinitif passé
- avoir eu
Translation of: avoir eu = have had
Participe
Participe présent
- ayant
Translation of: ayant = having
Participe passé
- ayant eu
Translation of: ayant eu = having had
Participe antérieur
- ayant eu
Translation of: ayant eu = having had
About the verb avoir
Avoir is an irregular French verb that is also one of the two auxiliary verbs (the other is être).
If you want to learn French, it is very important that you can conjugate avoir, as it is one of the most used verbs in the French language – both because of its very central role in the language, but also because of its function as an auxiliary verb.
Pronunciation of avoir
Avoir is not only difficult to pronounce correctly; its conjugations often cause a lot of confusion when learning French. Examples include:
- a or à: a is a conjugation (present, 3rd person, singular) of avoir, where à is a preposition that can best be translated as to or in. Examples: il a mangé = he has eaten and je vais à la boulangerie = I go to the bakery. Because the two words are very similar in spelling and pronunciation, they can easily confuse beginners.
- Il y a: The little phrase il y a, usually means “there is” or “is there”. At first glance, this part of the sentence seems strange to most people, but it is widely used in French and it is therefore useful to learn it. In everyday speech it is pronounced iya.
- Il n'y a pas: This is the same part of the sentence as above, with the addition of a negation (ne + pas) to give the sentence the opposite meaning: “there is not” or “there is not”. Il n'y a pas is pronounced iyapa.
- Eu, eus, eut: The conjugations eu, (which is part of the past participle) eus and eut (which is part of the passé simple) are all pronounced y, as in tu (‘you'). The same applies to eûmes, eûtes and eurent, which are pronounced y-m, y-t and y-r respectively.
Contractions
There are a number of contractions associated with the conjugations of avoir. Here are a few examples:
- Z sound: When a word ends in s and is adjacent to a word starting with a vowel, the s must be voiced with a z sound. In relation to avoir, this applies in the following cases: nous avons, vous avez, ils ont and elles ont.
- Ils/elles ont: As mentioned above, the s must be voiced between ils/elles and ont so that you pronounce a z sound. If you fail to do this, you say ils/elles sont instead (with an s sound), which is a conjugation of être! This is a very common beginner's mistake.
- Tu as: Tu as means “you have” or “have you” and is contracted to t'a, and is therefore pronounced ta. However, there is nothing wrong with pronouncing the words separately (ty a) and this pronunciation is sometimes heard in Francophone countries.
- Tu n'as pas: This is the same part of the sentence as above, but with the addition of a negation (ne + pas), so that the sentence has the opposite meaning: “you don't have” or “you don't have”. This part of the sentence can be pronounced both ta pa (t'as pas) and ty na pa (tu n'as pas).