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

• il y a

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