avoir

French

Etymology

From Middle French avoir, from Old French avoir, aveir, aver, from Vulgar Latin *avēre, from Latin habēre, present active infinitive of habeō (“have, hold, possess”), probably from a Proto-Italic *habēō or *haβēō, possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰh₁bʰ- (“to grab, to take”). Influenced and reinforced by similar (yet etymologically unrelated) verbs in Germanic; compare Frankish *habēn, *hebōn (“to have”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌽 (haban, “to have”).

See closer cognates in regional languages in France : Angevin avouèr, Bourbonnais-Berrichon avoér, Bourguignon aivoi, Champenois aouâr, Corsican avè, Franco-Provençal avêr, Franc-Comtois aivoi, Gallo avair, Lorrain ahoir, Norman avaer, Occitan aver, Picard avoèr, Tourangeau avouèr.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /a.vwaʁ/
  • audio(file)
  • Rhymes: -waʁ

Noun

avoir m (plural avoirs)

  1. asset, possession

Verb

avoir

  1. (transitive) to have (to own; to possess)
    J'aimerais avoir 20 dollars. ― I would like to have 20 dollars.
  2. (intransitive, with à) to have (to), must
    J'ai à vous parler. ― I have to talk to you.
  3. (auxiliary) to have (auxiliary verb to form compound past tenses of most verbs)
    J'ai parlé. ― I have spoken.
  4. (transitive) to have (a condition)
    J'ai faim. ― I'm hungry. (literally, “I have hunger.”)
    J'ai froid. ― I'm cold. (literally, “I have cold.”)
  5. (transitive) to have (a measure or age)
    Elle a 19 ans. ― She is 19 years old. (literally, “She has 19 years.”)
  6. to have (to trick)
    Tu t'es fait avoir. ― You've been had.
  7. to have (to participate in an experience)
    avoir des relations sexuelles
    to have sexual relations

Usage notes

Avoir is often used with nouns like chaud (“heat”), faim (“hunger”), soif (“thirst”), peur (“fear”), etc. to express a personal condition or feeling, as shown in examples above. While constructions like être affamé (“to be starving/starved”) and être assoiffé (“to be thirsty”) exist, they are almost always used figuratively. It is always more natural to use avoir rather than être in the examples listed above, and other similar cases. In some cases, both verbs can be used, but with vastly different meanings:

J'ai chaud. ― I'm hot. (I feel hot) (literally, “I have the heat.”)
Je suis chaud. ― I'm horny.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Pages starting with "avoir".

See also

Further reading

Middle French

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old French avoir, aveir, from Latin habēre, present active infinitive of habeō (“have, hold, possess”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰh₁bʰ- (“to grab, to take”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /a.vwer/

Verb

avoir

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

Conjugation

  • Like Modern French avoir, highly irregular
  • Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.
   Conjugation of avoir
simple compound
infinitive avoir avoir eu
gerund en ayant Use the gerund of avoir followed by the past participle
present participle ayant
past participle eu
person singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative ie (may be i' before a vowel) tu il nous vous ilz, elles
simple
tenses		 present ai, ay as a avons avez ont
imperfect avais avais avait avions aviez avoient, avoyent
past historic eus eus eut eusmes eustes eurent
future auroie, auroye auras aura aurons aurez auront
conditional aurois aurois aurait aurions auriez auroient, auroyent
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 ie que tu qu'il que nous que vous qu'ilz, qu'elles
simple
tenses		 present aie aies ait ayons ayez aient, ayent
imperfect eusse eusses eust eussions eussiez eussent
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 – nous vous –
— aie — ayons, aions ayez, aiez —

Descendants

References

  • avoir on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330-1500) (in French)

Old French

Alternative forms

Etymology

From earlier aveir, aver, from Vulgar Latin *avēre, from Latin habēre (“have, hold, possess”), present active infinitive of habeō.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /aˈvojr/

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

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb has irregularities in its 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 eü, eüṭ, oü, oüṭ
gerund en aiant Use the gerund of avoir followed by the past participle
present participle aiant
past participle eü, eüṭ, oü, oüṭ
person singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative jo tu il nos vos il
simple
tenses		 present ai as a, aṭ avons avez ont
imperfect avoie, aveie avoies, aveies avoit, aveit aviiens, aviens aviiez, aviez avoient, aveient
preterite oi eüs, oüs ot, out eümes, oümes eüstes, oüstes orent
future avrai, arai avras, aras avra, ara avrons, arons avroiz, avreiz, avrez, aroiz, areiz, arez avront, aront
conditional avroie, avreie, aroie, areie avroies, avreies, aroies, areies avroit, avreit, aroit, areit avriiens, avriens, ariiens, ariens avriiez, avriez, ariiez, ariez avroient, avreient, aroient, areient
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 preterite 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 jo que tu qu’il que nos que vos qu’il
simple
tenses		 present aie aies aie, aieṭ, ait aiiens, aions aiiez aient
imperfect eüsse, oüsse eüsses, oüsses eüst, oüst eüssons, eüssiens, oüssons, oüssiens eüssoiz, eüssez, eüssiez, oüssoiz, oüssez, oüssiez eüssent, oüssent
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 vos –
— aies — aiiens, aions aiiez —

Noun

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

  1. possession; good

Descendants

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