y avoir

French

Etymology

Literally, “to have there”; from Middle French y avoir, from Old French i avoir, from Latin hīc (“here”) and habēre (“to have”). Compare Catalan haver-hi and Spanish hay.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /i.j‿a.vwaʁ/, /j‿a.vwaʁ/
  • Audio(file)

Verb

y avoir

  1. (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.

Conjugation of y avoir (see also Appendix:French verbs)
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
/i ɔ.ʁa/ or /i.j‿o.ʁa/		 — — —
conditional — — 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 – tu – nous vous –
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:
  • past historic → present perfect
  • past anterior → pluperfect
  • imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive
  • pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive

(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

See also

Middle French

Etymology

Old French i avoir, from Latin hīc (“here”) and habēre (“to have”).

Verb

y avoir (impersonal)

  1. 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.

Descendants
  • French: y avoir
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