Definify.com
Definition 2024
y_avoir
y avoir
French
Verb
- (impersonal, transitive) there be
- Il y a deux raisons. ― There are two reasons.
Conjugation
This verb is impersonal and is conjugated only in the third-person singular.
Conjugation of y avoir (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| simple | compound | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | y avoir | avoir y eu | |||||
| gerund | en y ayant | en ayant y eu | |||||
| present participle | y ayant /i ɛ.jɑ̃/ |
||||||
| past participle | y eu /i y/ |
||||||
| person | singular | plural | |||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il | nous | vous | ils | |
| simple tenses |
present | — | — | y a /i a/ |
— | — | — |
| imperfect | — | — | y avait /i a.vɛ/ |
— | — | — | |
| past historic1 | — | — |
y eut /i y/ |
— | — | — | |
| future | — | — | y aura /i o.ʁa/ |
— | — | — | |
| conditional | — | — | y aurait /i o.ʁɛ/ |
— | — | — | |
| compound tenses |
present perfect | Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| past anterior1 | Use the past historic tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il | que nous | que vous | qu’ils | |
| simple tenses |
present | — | — | y ait /i ɛ/ |
— | — | — |
| imperfect1 | — | — |
y eût /i y/ |
— | — | — | |
| compound tenses |
past | Use the present subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect1 | Use the imperfect subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | tu | – | nous | vous | – | |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1literary tenses | |||||||
Usage notes
- The subject of y avoir must always be il (sometimes indirectly, as in Il semble y avoir un problème, “There seems to be a problem”). Thus, avoir always appears in one of its third-person singular forms. This is unlike be in English for there to be, which often takes plural forms.
- While the sense is idiomatic, the syntax is the ordinary syntax for y and avoir; thus N’y a-t-il pas de fromage ? (“Is there no cheese ?”), Il y en a deux (“There are two [of them]”), and so on.
Related terms
Middle French
Etymology
Old French i avoir, from Latin hīc (“here”) and habēre (“to have”).
Verb
- there be
- 1488, Jean Dupré, Lancelot du Lac, page 77:
-
Il y a ung chevalier en ceste forest le plus grant et le plus merveilleux que vos veissiez oncques.
- There is a knight in this forest, the greatest and most marvellous that you will ever see.
-
Il y a ung chevalier en ceste forest le plus grant et le plus merveilleux que vos veissiez oncques.
-
Descendants
- French: y avoir