Avoir, and saying your age

Why it matters

Avoir (to have) is the second pillar of French, right next to être. You’ll use it to say what you own, but also in a whole family of everyday expressions where English uses “be” and French uses “have”:

Translate word for word with être and the results range from odd to embarrassing:

Get avoir right and you can talk about your age, your family, your needs and how you feel, which covers half of any first conversation.

Avoir and its expressions

1. Avoir, the present tense

Je becomes j’ before ai, always: j’ai, never “je ai”. And nous, vous, ils, elles link with a z sound before avons, avez, ont, because they all start with a vowel.

2. Ils ont or ils sont?

This is the most important sound difference in this lesson. One hiss or one buzz changes the meaning:

The same goes for elles sont / elles ont. When you listen, focus on that one consonant.

3. Saying your age

French doesn’t say you are an age; you have years. The pattern never changes:

Always say ans in a full sentence: j’ai vingt ans, not “j’ai vingt”, and never années (which means years as a span of time, not your age).

Lesson 7’s linking sounds come back here, because ans starts with a vowel:

4. Where English says “be”, French says “have”

Learn these as fixed chunks. Each one is avoir + a noun, with no article:

Chaud and froid are a special trap. J’ai chaud means you feel hot. Je suis chaud describes you as a person or a thing, and in casual Québec French it means you’re tipsy. Je suis froid means you’re a cold, unfriendly person. For how you feel, always use avoir.

A Canadian extra: in Canada you’ll often hear je m’endors (literally “I’m falling asleep”) to mean “I’m sleepy”. In Europe, je m’endors only means you’re actually dropping off; “sleepy” is j’ai sommeil.

5. Aches and pains: avoir mal à

To say something hurts, French says “I have pain at…”: avoir mal à + the body part. The little word in the middle changes with the body part. You’ll learn why in Lesson 19; for now, learn them as chunks:

Careful with avoir mal au cœur: it doesn’t mean heartache. Its everyday meaning is to feel sick, as in nauseous. And avoir du mal à + a verb means “to struggle to”: j’ai du mal à comprendre (I’m struggling to understand).

6. Needing and wanting

Two more chunks you’ll use daily, both followed by de:

The de is part of the expression. It becomes d’ before a vowel: besoin d’aide, envie d’un café.

Examples

• Tu as quel âge ? J'ai dix-huit ans.How old are you? I'm eighteen.
• Elle a deux enfants.She has two children. (duh-zahn-fahn)
• Nous avons un chat et un chien.We have a cat and a dog. (noo-za-von)
• Vous avez une minute ?Do you have a minute? (voo-za-vay)
• Les enfants ont faim !The children are hungry! (they have hunger)
• J'ai froid. Tu as un pull ?I'm cold. Do you have a sweater?
• Tu as raison, j'ai tort.You're right, I'm wrong.
• J'ai mal à la tête.I have a headache.
• J'ai besoin d'un café.I need a coffee.
• On a de la chance !We're lucky! (on = we, with a)
• J'ai peur des araignées.I'm afraid of spiders.
• Il a l'air fatigué.He looks tired.
• J'ai mal au cœur, je reste à la maison.I feel sick, I'm staying home. (not heartache!)

Memory tricks

Don’t get French fried