avoir

French

Etymology

From Middle French, from Old French aveir, from Latin habēre, present active infinitive of habeō (“have, hold, possess”). Influenced and reinforced by similar verbs in Germanic; compare Frankish *habēn, *hebōn (“to have”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌽 (haban, “to have”).

Pronunciation

• audio

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• IPA: /avˈwaʁ/

Noun

avoir m. (plural avoirs)

1. asset, possession

Verb

avoir

1. (transitive) to have (to own)

   J'aimerais avoir 20 dollars - I would like to have 20 dollars

2. (intransitive) to have to

   Il va avoir à faire les courses. - He will have to do the shopping.

3. (auxiliary) to have (auxiliary verb to form compound past tenses of most verbs)

   j'ai parlé - I have spoken

4. to be; to be aged (speaking of age)

   Elle a 19 ans. - She is 19 [years old] (Literally, "She has 19 [years]")

5. to be (speaking of condition)

   J'ai faim. - I'm hungry.

   J'ai froid. - I'm cold.

6. to be, measure (speaking of measurements)

   Le mur semble avoir plus de deux mètres de haut. - The wall seems to be higher than two metres.

7. to have (trick)

   On t'a eu. Tu t'es fait avoir. - You've been had.

Conjugation

   Conjugation of avoir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		avoir			avoir eu
gerund		en ayant			en ayant eu
present participle		ayant
past participle		eu
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il	nous	vous	ils
simple tenses	present	ai	as	a	avons	avez	ont
	imperfect	avais	avais	avait	avions	aviez	avaient
	past historic1	eus	eus	eut	eûmes	eûtes	eurent
	future	aurai	auras	aura	aurons	aurez	auront
	conditional	aurais	aurais	aurait	aurions	auriez	auraient
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	aie	aies	ait	ayons	ayez	aient
	imperfect1	eusse	eusses	eût	eussions	eussiez	eussent
compound tenses	past	Use the present subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect1	Use the imperfect subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
		—	aie	—	ayons	ayez	—
1literary tenses

Derived terms

Look at pages starting with avoir.

• y avoir
• n'y a-t-il
• y a-t-il

See also

• être

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Middle French

Alternative forms

• avoyr

Verb

avoir

1. to have
2. (auxiliary verb) to have (verb used to form the perfect tense)

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Old French

Alternative forms

• aveir

Etymology

From Latin habēre (“have, hold, possess”).

Verb

avoir

1. to have
2. (auxiliary verb) to have (verb used to form the perfect tense)
3. to exist (there is/there are)
   • c. 1200, Author unknown, Les quatres sohais Saint Martin:

     Un vilain ot en Normendie

     There was a peasant in Normandy

Noun

avoir m. (oblique plural avoirs, nominative singular avoirs, nominative plural avoir)

1. possession; good
   • circa 1170, Chrétien de Troyes, Érec et Énide:

     C'est mes avoirs, c'est mes tresorz.

     It is my possession, it is my treasure.

   • circa 1250, Rutebeuf, Ci encoumence la vie de Sainte Marie l'Egypcienne:

     Robes, deniers ne autre avoir
     Ne voloit de l'autrui avoir.

     Not clothing, nor money, nor other possessions
     Did she want to have from others.

Conjugation

• Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

   Conjugation of avoir (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		avoir			avoir ou, eü
gerund		en aiant			Use the gerund of avoir followed by the past participle
present participle		aiant
past participle		ou, eü
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jeo, jou	tu	il	nos, nous	vos, vous	ils
simple tenses	present	ai	as	a, at	avons	avés, avez	ont
	imperfect	avois	avois	avoit	avions	aviez	avoient
	past historic	oi	ous, eus	ot, eut	eumes	eustes	orent
	future	aroie, avroie	arois, avrois	aroie, avroie	arons, avrons	arez, avrez	aront, avront
	conditional	aroies, avroies	aroies, avroies	aroit, avroit	arions, avrions	ariez, avriez	aroient, avroient
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 anterior	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 jeo, jou	que tu	qu’il	que nos, nous	que vos, vous	qu’ils
simple tenses	present	aïe	aïs	aït	aïons	aïez	aïent
	imperfect	eüsse	eüsses	eüst	eüssions	eüssiez	eüssent
compound tenses	past	Use the present subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect	Use the imperfect subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos, nous	vos, vous	–
		—	aïe	—	aïez	aïons	—

Descendants

• French: avoir