How To Conjugate And Use The French Verb Avoir
Written byAmélie Pinon
Conjugaison d’Avoir
Avoir is the French equivalent of “to have” and just as important to French as the latter is to English. Besides being a verb, it is one of 2 helper verbs, the other being “être.” The majority of compound tenses are built with avoir. Once you’ve mastered avoir and être and the participe passé of the verbs to be conjugated, you’ve mastered the compound tenses.
The compound tenses of avoir use the simple tenses of avoir as auxiliaries.
Indicatif
| Présent | Imparfait | Passé Simple | Futur Simple | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| j’ tu il, elle, on nous vous ils, elles | ai as a avons avez ont | avais avais avait avions aviez avaient | eus eus eut eûmes eûtes eurent | aurai auras aura aurons aurez auront |
Compound tenses
| Passé Composé | Plus que Parfait | Passé Antérieur | Futur Antérieur | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| j’ tu il, elle, on nous vous ils, elles | ai eu as eu a eu avons eu avez eu ont eu | avais eu avais eu avait eu avions eu aviez eu avaient eu | eus eu eus eu eut eu eûmes eu eûtes eu eurent eu | aurai eu auras eu aura eu aurons eu aurez eu auront eu |
Subjunctive
| Présent | Imparfait | Passé | Plus que Parfait | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| que j’ que tu qu’il, elle, on que nous que vous qu’ils, elles | aie aies ait ayons ayez aient | eusse eusses eût eussions eussiez eussent | aie eu aies eu ait eu ayons eu ayez eu aient eu | eusse eu eusses eu eût eu eussions eu eussiez eu eussent eu |
Conditionnel
| Présent | Passé | Passé 2nd form | |
|---|---|---|---|
| j’ tu il, elle, on nous vous ils, elles | aurais aurais aurait aurions auriez auraient | aurais eu aurais eu aurait eu aurions eu auriez eu auraient eu | eusse eu eusses eu eût eu eussions eu eussiez eu eussent eu |
Impératif
| Présent | Passé | |
|---|---|---|
| (tu) (nous) (vous | aie ! ayons ! ayez ! | aie eu ! – ayons eu ! ayez eu ! |
infinitif**:** avoir
participe présent**:** ayant
participe passé**:** eu
Examples:
Présent: J’ai un chat. / I have a cat.
Imparfait: Elle avait une maison. / She had a house.
Passé simple: Nous eûmes du succés. / We had success.
Futur Simple: Ils auront des victoires./ They will have victories.
Passé Composé: J’ai eu un appel. / I have had a call.
Plus que Parfait: Tu avais eu du dessert. / You had had dessert.
Passé Antérieur: Elle eut eu son divorce. / She had had her divorce.
Futur Antérieur: Vous aurez eu raison. / You will have been right.
Présent du Subjonctif: Je ne pense pas que vous ayez un choix. / I do not think that you have a choice.
Imparfait du Subjonctif: Il y avait trop de preuves pour que nous eussions trop de doutes. / There was too much evidence for us to have too many doubts.
Passé du Subjonctif: Il faut qu’ils aient eu peur pour partir si vite. / They must have been afraid to leave so quickly.
Plus que Parfait du Subjonctif: Il ne doutait pas que son interlocuteur eût eu du succés dans le passé. / He didn’t doubt that his interlocutor had had success in the past.
Conditionel: Si j’avais mangé ce matin, je n’aurais pas faim. / If I had eaten this morning, I would not be hungry.
Impératif: Aie pitié! / Have mercy!
Infinitif: Avoir foi / To have faith
Participe présent: Ayant trop de problèmes, le candidat se retira de la campagne. / Having too many problems, the candidate retired from the campaign.
Participe passé: Nous avons eu un voyage sans problèmes. / We had a journey without problems.
- Partager l'amour (share):
The verb 'avoir' in French literally means 'to have' so it's used frequently. Here's how to conjugate it.
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