y avoir
y avoir - French
Pronunciation
- IPA: /i.j‿a.vwaʁ/, /j‿a.vwaʁ/
Verb
- (impersonal, transitive) there be
- Il y a deux raisons. ― There are two reasons.
Usage notes
- As with other impersonal verbs, the subject of y avoir is always il (sometimes indirectly, as in Il semble y avoir un problème (“There seems to be a problem”). Thus, unlike be in English (for there to be), which often takes plural forms, avoir always appears in one of its third-person singular forms. Thus, il y a une chose and il y a deux choses are equivalent to there is one thing and there are two things.
- The syntax is the ordinary syntax for adverbial pronoun y and transitive verb avoir;
- Il y en a deux. ― There are two of them.
- Y a-t-il une différence ? ― Is there a difference?
- N'y a-t-il plus de fromage ? ― Isn't there any more cheese?
- Va-t-il y avoir du monde ? ― Is there going to be a lot of people?
- etc.
Conjugation
This verb is impersonal and is conjugated only in the third-person singular.
| infinitive | simple | y avoir | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | y avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | y ayant /i.j‿ɛ.jɑ̃/ or /i.j‿e.jɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | y ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | eu /y/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | — | — | y a /i.j‿a/ | — | — | — |
| imperfect | — | — | y avait /i.j‿a.vɛ/ | — | — | — | |
| past historic2 | — | — | y eut /i.j‿y/ | — | — | — | |
| future | — | — | y aura or y aura /i ɔ.ʁa/ or /i.j‿o.ʁa/ | — | — | — | |
| conditional | — | — | y aurait or y aurait /i ɔ.ʁɛ/ or /i.j‿o.ʁɛ/ | — | — | — | |
| (compound tenses) | present perfect | present indicative of y avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect indicative of y avoir + past participle | ||||||
| past anterior2 | past historic of y avoir + past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | future of y avoir + past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | conditional of y avoir + past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ils, qu’elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | — | — | y ait /i.j‿ɛ/ | — | — | — |
| imperfect2 | — | — | y eût /i.j‿y/ | — | — | — | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of y avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of y avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| compound | — | simple imperative of y avoir + past participle | — | simple imperative of y avoir + past participle | simple imperative of y avoir + past participle | — | |
| 1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en. | |||||||
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
y avoir - Middle French
Verb
Descendants
- French: y avoir