Avoir: How To Use it, Conjugation And Examples 

The verb avoir

The verb “avoir” is a French verb that means “to have” and it’s used to express ownership or possession, for example, “They have a pool” or “I have a car”. It can also be used to express states or feelings, such as “I’m scared” or “You are hungry”.

Additionally, “avoir” is used to form compound verb tenses, such as the passé composé (I have arrived), the past perfect (we had arrived), and the future perfect (they will have arrived). Understanding the different uses of “avoir” is essential for learning and communicating effectively in French. It is the second most used verb in French after the verb “être”. 

Conjugation of avoir in the present tense

verb avoir in french conjugation
FrenchEnglish
J’ai (Je ai)I have
Tu asYou have
Il / Elle aHe / She / It has
Nous avonsWe have
Ils / Elles ontThey have

Examples or sentences of avoir

  • J’ai une voiture. – I have a car.
  • Tu as mangé une pomme. – You have eaten an apple.
  • Elle a une belle sourire. – She has a beautiful smile.
  • Ils ont vu le film. – They have seen the film.
  • Vous avez des belles plantes. – You have beautiful pants.

How to use avoir

Avoir has two uses, one as a main verb where it expresses ownership and feelings and another as an auxiliary verb to express actions or events.

  • Property or possesion

Subject + verb avoir + what is owned or possessed

  • Le jardin + a + une piscine. – The garden + has + a pool.
  • Le chien a une balle. – The dog has a ball.
  • Le fille a les yeux noirs. – The girl has back eyes.
  • Ils ont un problème. – They have a problem.
  • Nous avons une maison petite. – We have a small house.
  • Ils ont des chemises rouges. – They have red shirts.
  • Feelings or states

Subject + avoir + complement (the feeling)

  • Elles ont faim – Thery ae hungry.
  • Tu as froid. – You’re cold.
  • J’ai peur. – I’m scared.
  • Avoir as an auxiliary verb

As an auxiliary verb, “avoir” is used to form compound tenses in French, as in the passé compossé. An auxiliary verb is a verb that accompanies and complements another main verb. In the sentence “I have seen it”, the main verb is “seen” and the auxiliary verb is “have”.

Subject + Auxiliary Verb (Avoir) + Main Verb + Complement

  • J’ai mangé un crêpe. – I have eaten a crêpe.
  • Il a coupé la viande. – He has cut the meat.

In the previous sentences, avoir is the auxiliary and “to eat” and “to cut” are the main ones. Let’s now see the conjugation of the verb avoir as an auxiliary to the verb “acheter” (buy).

SubjectPresent perfect English
Jeai achetéI have bought
Tuas achetéYou have bought
Il / Ellea achetéHe / She / It has bought
Nousavons achetéWe have bought
Ils / Ellesont achetéThey have bought

A detailed explanation of the “passé composé” tense is beyond the scope of this lesson, and it is briefly mentioned here to illustrate the use of “avoir”.

Avoir in l’imparfait 

In French, “l’imparfait” is commonly used in everyday conversations to express an action or fact that happened in the past and may still be relevant to the present moment. This tense is also used in other romance languages. For example, “Elena played” could be expressed in “l’imparfait” tense in French as “Elena jouait”.

FrenchEnglish
J’ avais (Je avais)I had
Tu avaisYou had
Il / elle / avaitHe/ She had
Nous avionsWe had
Vous aviezYou had
Ils / elles avaientThey had

Examples

  • Vous aviez un magasin. – You had a store.
  • Il avait une copine. – He had a girlfriend.
  • J’avais un ami en Venezuela. – I had a friend in Venezuela.

Contraction

A contraction is a shorter way of writing two words by removing one or more letters. In French, contractions are often made with the first-person singular pronoun “Je” (meaning “I”).

For example, instead of writing “Je ai un travail” (which means “I have a job”), you can use the contraction “J’ai un travail”. This contraction is formed by removing the letter “e” from “Je” and replacing it with an apostrophe.

Exercises

Now practice the verb avoir with the following test or exercises.

Evaluate your knowledge with this quiz from Transtle.com

An auxiliary verb is a complementary verb that is used to accompany another main verb

Select the sentence that uses "avoir" as an auxiliary verb

Select the sentences that uses "avoir" to express possession

The imperfect past tense (l’imparfait in French) for the subjects: Je y Tu is:

The imperfect past tense (l’imparfait in French) for Nous is:

The imperfect past tense (l’imparfait in French) for ils/elles is:

The imperfect past tense (l’imparfait in French) for il/elle is:

The imperfect past tense (l’imparfait in French) for vous is:

1. Write 8 sentences with the verb avoir expressing possession, one for each subject pronoun.

2. Write 8 sentences with the verb avoir as an auxiliary verb, one for each subject pronoun.

3. Write 8 sentences with the verb avoir in the past imperfect, one for each subject pronoun.

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