français · A1 · verb · 4 minutes
Avoir in the present
Express possession, age, sensations, and everyday needs.
Understand the choice
Avoir goes far beyond possession. French uses it for age, hunger, thirst, heat, cold, fear, luck, and many compound tenses, making these six forms among the highest-value items in the language.
Core rule: The present of avoir is ai, as, a, avons, avez, ont; je elides to j’ before ai.
Notice it in context
J’ai deux sœurs et nous avons un chien.
I have two sisters and we have a dog.
J’ai combines elided je with ai; avons gives the first-person plural form.
Quel âge as-tu ?
How old are you?
French asks what age you have; inversion joins as and tu with a hyphen.
Ils ont faim et soif.
They are hungry and thirsty.
Avoir combines with the nouns faim and soif.
What to remember
- The final consonants of ont and sont distinguish the forms in spelling, though both end with a nasal vowel in speech.
- Avoir besoin de means to need; avoir envie de means to feel like or want.
Common trap: Do not use être for age or the common avoir expressions: say j’ai vingt ans and j’ai froid, not je suis vingt ans or je suis froid.