French learners are faced with the need to memorize many verbs, their endings and tenses. One of the most used is a representative of the 3rd group avoir. Knowing its conjugation is necessary, because, firstly, it is used in many stable turns, and secondly, it is an auxiliary verb for the formation of several temporary forms.
Meaning of the verb
Its main meaning is “to have, to possess something”
- As-tu un chat? – Do you have a cat?
- Cet enfant a beaucoup de jouets. – This child (has) many toys.
In this meaning, it is equivalent to the English to have. In translation, the word "is" is usually omitted.
Another meaning is “to get, own something”
J'aimerais avoir un colier d'or. – I would like to have a gold necklace
Conjugation of the verb avoir in the indicative and conditional-subjunctive moods
Let's consider how the forms of the verb change in such tenses as the present (Présent), the incomplete past (Imparfait), the future simple (Futur Simple), the past complex (Passé composé), as well as in the conditional (Conditionnel) and subjunctive (Subjonctif) inclinations.
In Présent de l'indicatif, the conjugation of the French verb avoir should be remembered. The task is facilitated by the fact that in almost all forms, except for the 3rd person plural, there is an initial vowel of the infinitive, and the pronunciation of all forms follows the rules. In Imparfait, the following pattern is traced: two initial letters (-av) are taken from the infinitive, the corresponding endings starting with –ai (-ais, -ais, -ait, -aient) are attached to them, and the vowel -i (-ions, - iez).
In Futur, the conjugation of the verb avoir is characterized by the presence of a consonant -r before the end, while the stem changes to -aur. Looking carefully at the table, you can see that the endings in Futur Simple are identical to the endings in Présent, only the basics change.
In the present tense (Présent du conditionnel) the stem is the same as in the future simple (-aur), and the endings are the same as Imparfait. In the present subjunctive (Présent du subjonctif), unpronounceable endings are preceded by the stem -ai (for 1, 2, 3 person singular and 3 person plural), and -ay is used before spoken endings (for 2 and 3 person plural).
Finally, PasséComposé, without which neither the oral nor the written speech of the French can do, requires the participation of both the main verb in the form of the past participle, and the auxiliary copula verb. In the case of avoir, you need to use this verb twice: first as an auxiliary (the forms will match the present conjugation), then its participle eu.
Using a verb as an auxiliary
To form a Passé Composé, you need to know the present tense conjugation of the verb avoir. It is to him (less often to être) that participles of semantic verbs will be attached. The image shows how the Passé Composé is formed. Participles needed for conjugation can be found in dictionaries and reference books. For regular verbs of groups 1 and 2, it is enough just to discard the final consonant -r from the infinitive, and in the first group, additionally put the accent aigu (é) icon over the final vowel -e.
Example: parler – j’ai parlé (1 group); rougir - tu as rougi (group 2); être - elle aété; mettre - nous avons mis (group 3), etc.
Stable phrases
French learners will need the conjugation of the verb avoir to replenish their lexical baggage. In the following expressions presented in the table, nouns without articles are added to the verb.
| avoir |
faim/ soif froid/ chaud besoin de mal à (+ body part) honte de envie de sommeil lieu peur de |
being hungry and thirsty respectively freeze (about a person or animal) and, conversely, feel the heat to have a need, need something experience pain in a specific place to be ashamed of something to want something, feel like having something or doing something feel sleepy take place (about the event) fear, fear |
To this list, you can also add combinations in which the noun is used with the definite article. As a rule, they are continued by the preposition de and the infinitive.
- Avoir le temps - to be in time, to have time.
- Avoir l'habitude - to have a habit.
- Avoir la chance - succeed.
- Avoir l'idée - think, think.
These and other constructions will decorate spoken and written speech, and having learned the conjugation of the verb avoir, it will be easy to apply them in any situation.
