Avoir – to have

Avoir le monde dans sa poche …
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Have a French Verb

Avoir is one of the two most important French verbs (être is the other one) and has irregular conjugations in just about every tense and mood. Avoir literally means "to have," but also serves an an auxiliary verb and is found in many idiomatic expressions.

Avoir = to have, possess

J’ai une voiture bleue.		I have a blue car.
As-tu un numéro portable ?		Do you have a cell phone number?

Avoir = to have, be experiencing, be suffering from

J’ai mal au dos.		I have a backache.
Il a la grippe.		He has the flu.

Avoir = to have, dupe, con

J’ai été eu.		I’ve been had.
Je t’ai bien eu !		I got you!

Avoir = auxiliary verb

For the vast majority of French verbs, avoir serves as the auxiliary verb in the compound tenses and moods.

Nous avons déjà mangé.		We’ve already eaten.
Auras-tu fini avant midi ?		Will you have finished before noon?
S’il avait vendu la voiture, il vous aurez remboursé.		If he’d sold the car, he would have reimbursed you.

Avoir = to be

In more than a dozen common phrases, avoir is equivalent to "be" in English.

avoir __ ans		to be __ (years old)
avoir chaud		to be hot
avoir de la chance		to be lucky
avoir faim		to be hungry
avoir froid		to be cold
avoir honte		to be ashamed
avoir l’habitude de		to be in the habit of, used to
avoir mal au cœur		to be sick to one’s stomach
avoir mal de mer		to be seasick
avoir __ mètres (de haut, de long)		to be __ meters (high, long)
avoir peur		to be afraid
avoir raison		to be right
avoir soif		to be thirsty
avoir sommeil		to be sleepy
avoir tort		to be wrong
il y a		there is, there are

Avoir in idiomatic expressions

Avoir is also found in dozens of idiomatic expressions, including

• avoir du chien (informal) – to be desirable
• avoir le cafard (informal) – to feel low, blue
• avoir un petit creux (informal) – to be a little hungry
• n’avoir rien à voir avec/dans – to have nothing to do with

Avoir in action

Do these French expressions need the subjunctive?

• avoir besoin que
• avoir envie que
• avoir honte que
• avoir l’impression que
• avoir peur que

 Related lessons

• Avoir conjugations
• Expressions with avoir
• Auxiliary verbs
• Top 10 irregular verbs
• Introduction to verbs

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