Avoir means ‘to have’ in French. It is important to know how to use avoir as it is the second most common verb in French. It’s useful to be able to talk about what you have or don’t have.
Below is a table that shows how to conjugate the verb to have, or avoir.
| J’ai | I have |
| Tu as | You have (informal, singular) |
| Il/Elle/On a | He/She/One has |
| Nous avons | We have |
| Vous avez | You have (formal and/or plural) |
| Ils/Elles ont | They have |
What to know about avoir:
- Like être, avoir is an irregular verb and is one of the most common verbs used in French.
- You’ll notice in the first person singular conjugation of avoir that the « e » in the subject pronoun « Je » is missing. Je is connected to the conjugation ai by an apostrophe. This is because two vowels (two vowel sounds) are placed back to back.
What is a liaison?
A liaison is the connection of sounds between a word that ends in a consonant and the following word that begins with a vowel. The connecting sound oftentimes, and with these examples specifically, is a “z” sound.
Nous avons – [noo-za-von]
Vous avez – [voo-za-vay]
Ils/Elles ont – [eel-zon / el-zon]
Avoir is an irregular verb. Regular verbs follow the same pattern, but irregular verbs don’t.