Lesson 5.01: Describing People and Nationality

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Idioms with Avoir

Many French expressions use avoir / to have in French, whereas their English equivalents use to be. One of the most important and most common is the phrase Il y a.

Il y a is used to say that something exists and means There is or There are. It is usually followed by un, une, des, or a specific number or quantity.

• Il y a un livre sur le bureau.
• Il y a une plante sur le bureau.
• Il y a des livres sur le bureau.
• Il y a douze livres sur le bureau.
• Il y a beaucoup de livres sur le bureau.

To say There isn't or There aren't any, use Il n'y a pas, followed by de or d'.

• Il n'y a pas de livres sur le bureau.
• Il n'y a pas d'ordinateur sur le bureau.

Other expressions that use to be in English but avoir / to have in French include the following:

avoir chaud	to be warm	avoir sommeil	to be sleepy
avoir froid	to be cold, chilly	avoir de la chance	to be lucky
avoir faim	to be hungry	avoir peur (de)	to be afraid (of)
avoir soif	to be thirsty	avoir honte (de)	to be ashamed (of)
avoir raison	to be right, correct	avoir envie de	to want, to have a desire for
avoir tort	to be wrong, incorrect	avoir besoin de	to need, to have need of

Notice how these expressions collectively define what is so basically human about us all.

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