Il y a

Essential French Expression


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Meaning	there is, there are; ago
Literally	it has there
Register	normal
Pronunciation		[ee lyah]
IPA		[i lja]

Usage notes: There are few expressions more useful than il y a, the French equivalent of "there is/are" and "ago."

Il y a = there is, there are

Il y a is most commonly used in one of three constructions:

1. Il y a + indefinite article + noun

Il y a un pommier dans le jardin.		There’s an apple tree in the garden.
Il y a des problèmes avec cet arrangement.		There are some problems with this arrangement.

Not ~~il y ont~~

It doesn’t matter if what comes next is singular or plural; in the present tense, the expression is always il y a. ~~Il y ont~~ does not exist.

2. Il y a + number + noun

Il y a trois étudiants qui ont réussi à l’examen.		There are three students who passed the test.
Il y a deux choses à faire demain.		There are two things to do tomorrow.

3. Il y a + indefinite adjective or pronoun

Il y a plusieurs solutions possibles.		There are several possible solutions.
Je pense qu’il y a quelqu’un dans la cave.		I think there’s someone in the cellar.

Il y a in other tenses

Il y a is made up of three* words:

il – the subject “it”
y – the adverbial pronoun “there”
a – the third person singular present tense of avoir – “to have”

* Not ~~il ya~~

Il and y never change. However, since a is the third person singular present tense of avoir, you can say there was, there will be, etc., by conjugating for that tense:

Il y avait un pommier dans le jardin.		There was an apple tree in the garden.
Il y aura un pommier dans le jardin.		There will be an apple tree in the garden.

Remember: even though the verb is a form of “be” in English (was, were, will be, etc), the French verb in this expression is always a form of avoir, not ~~être~~.

Il y a in questions

There are two different ways to ask questions with il y a:

With est-ce que

Place est-ce que directly in front of il y a and remember the required contraction.

Est-ce qu’il y a un problème ?		Is there a problem?
Est-ce qu’il y a des solutions ?		Are there any solutions ?
Combien de coccinelles est-ce qu’il y a dans le jardin ?		How many ladybugs are there in the garden?
Qu’est-ce qu’il y a ?		What’s wrong?

With inversion

Invert il y a by placing the pronoun y first, then invert il and a, and connect them with -t-

Y a-t-il un problème?		Is there a problem?
Y a-t-il des solutions ?		Are there any solutions ?
Pourquoi y a-t-il un coccinelle dans le jardin ?		Why is there a ladybug in the garden?
Qu’y a-t-il ?		What’s wrong?

There is only one correct inversion spelling and it consists of one empty space, two hyphens, and no apostrophes: y a-t-il. All of the following variations—and any others you might encounter—are wrong:

y-a-t-il
y-a-t’il
y-a t’il
y a-t’il
y a t’il
y’a-t-il
y’a-t’il
ya-t-il
ya-t il
ya-t’il
ya t’il

Informally, the first word is dropped and il y a is pronounced simply ya.

Il y a with negation

To say "there isn’t" or "there aren’t," place n’ in front of y and pas after a. The preposition de must precede the noun that comes next.

Il n’y a pas de problème.		There are no problems.
Il n’y a pas de solution.		There’s no solution.
Il n’y a pas de coccinelle dans le jardin.		There are no ladybugs in the garden.

Il y a = ago

When followed by a period of time or temporal adverb, il y a is the French equivalent of "ago":

Je lui ai parlé il y a deux semaines.		I talked to him two weeks ago.
Il y a 5 ans que j’ai vendu ma voiture.		I sold my car 5 years ago.
Il est parti il y a longtemps.		He left a long time ago.

Expressions and proverbs with il y a

Il n’y a pas de fumée sans feu.		There’s no smoke without a fire.
Il n’y a pas de roses sans épines.		There’s no rose without a thorn.
Il n’y a pas de sot métier (il n’y a que de sottes gens).		Every trade has its value.
Il n’y a que les montagnes qui ne se rencontrent pas.		There are none so distant that fate cannot bring them together
Il y a loin de la coupe aux lèvres.		There’s many a slip ‘twixt cup and lip.
Il y a quelque chose qui cloche		There’s something amiss.
Il y a un temps pour tout.		There’s a right time for everything.
Où il y a de la gêne, il n’y a pas de plaisir.		Comfort comes first, There’s no point in being uncomfortable.
Tant qu’il y a de la vie, il y a de l’espoir.		Where there’s life, there’s hope.

Also see expressions with y.

Related lessons

En español

Hay (there is/are)
Hace (ago)

In italiano

C’è | Ci sono (there is | there are)
Fa (ago)

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