Le Verbe Irrégulier Avoir (the irregular verb avoir/to have)
Video
This video is a rap about the conjugations and definitions of the verb avoir.
Video couresty of YouTuber Destinee Patton.
Video couresty of YouTuber Destinee Patton.
Notes
- Avoir means "to have" and is used to express possession, and can also be used in a few idiomatic expressions (phrases that have a different meaning from their literal translation).
- Avoir is an irregular verb, meaning that it has no pattern so you have to memorize how it is conjugated for each subject pronoun. Here are its conjugations and definitions.
- The expression "avoir à" can be translated as "to have to," but it is much better to use the irregular verb "devoir."
Ex: I have to eat lunch. > Je dois manger le déjeuner. - Avoir is also used for idiomatic expressions which often use "to be" in English.
Ex: I am hot > J'ai (I have) chaud. - Essential idiomatic expressions
avoir chaud/froid: to be hot/cold
avoir faim: to be hungry
avoir soif: to be thirsty
avoir de la chance: to be lucky
avoir confiance en: to be confident
avoir envie de: to want
avoir l'air de: to look like
avoir l'habitude de: to be used to
avoir tort: to be wrong
avoir raison: to be right
avoir sommeil: to be sleepy
avoir besoin de: to need - To use these expressions, you conjugate avoir according to your subject and leave the rest of the phrase.
Ex: We want cake = Nous avons envie du gâteau. - To make these expressions negative, you put the ne... pas around your conjugation of avoir.
Ex: Je n'ai pas l'habitude de faire les devoirs. = I am not used to doing my homework. - There are some additional avoir expressions at this site if you would like to learn them.
- Avoir MUST BE MEMORIZED!!! When you begin learning more tenses in the later levels of French, you will need to know the conjugations of avoir or you will not be able to conjugate the tenses correctly!!
Activities
Avoir Speaking Activity
Use this activity to have students practice using avoir and its idiomatic expressions in speech.
Directions:
Materials: tennis ball
Verb Conjugation race
Use this activity to practice regular and irregular verbs in a fun, competitive way. The only requirement is that students know a variety of verbs, regular and irregular.
Directions:
Materials: individual white boards or scrap sheets of paper, a list of verbs to be conjugated
Writing using Expressions with Avoir
Directions:
Materials: Expressions with avoir document (at link above)
Avoir Expressions: Sommeil, par Stromae
Use the song "Sommeil" by the Belgian artist Stromae to show students how avoir can be used in idiomatic expressions as well as to express possession.
Directions:
Materials: song lyrics, video
Use this activity to have students practice using avoir and its idiomatic expressions in speech.
Directions:
- The teacher asks a question from the list below and passes the tennis ball to a student.
Ex: Alain, combien d'ans avez-vous? - The student who receives the tennis ball answers the question in a complete sentence in French and passes it back to the teacher or to another student (depending on teacher preference).
Ex: J'ai 14 ans. - In order to encourage students to pay attention, the teacher can also ask students what another said in response to the question.
Ex: Marie, combien d'ans a-t-il Alain?
Re: Alain a 14 ans.
- Combien d'ans avez-vous?
- Quand est-ce que tu as sommeil, le matin ou le soir? (J'ai sommeil le...)
- Est-ce que tu as de la chance? (oui ou non)?
- À quelle saison est-ce qu'on a froid? (l'hiver, l'été, etc., on a froid)
- À quelle saison est-ce qu'on a chaud?
- Est-ce que vous avez confiance en vos amis?
- Est-ce que vous avez confiance en le gouvernement?
Materials: tennis ball
Verb Conjugation race
Use this activity to practice regular and irregular verbs in a fun, competitive way. The only requirement is that students know a variety of verbs, regular and irregular.
Directions:
- The class will be split into three groups of six. Each member will be assigned a number form 1-6. Remember your number! (your groups can be smaller if necessary)
- The teacher will give a verb and the group has one minute to write down the conjugation of the verb and make sure that each member knows the conjugations. (sometimes I will give 1:30).
- The teacher will then call out a number; the student who was assigned that number from each group must come up to the board and conjugate the entire verb. The student who conjugates the quickest earns a point for his/her team.
- Allow students to bring up their board for the first three rounds, but after that the students must memorize the whole conjugation.
- Also allow students to use notes if we are playing this game early on in a concept, but that is only allowed for the first three rounds.
Materials: individual white boards or scrap sheets of paper, a list of verbs to be conjugated
Writing using Expressions with Avoir
Directions:
- Students are given a document with seven photos.
- Students must choose six photos to describe writing a complete sentence using an expression with avoir.
Materials: Expressions with avoir document (at link above)
Avoir Expressions: Sommeil, par Stromae
Use the song "Sommeil" by the Belgian artist Stromae to show students how avoir can be used in idiomatic expressions as well as to express possession.
Directions:
- Provide students with the French and English lyrics to the song Sommeil, at this link.
- Show the students the video below and instruct them to follow along, paying attention to the French lyrics.
- After listening to the song, students will go through and highlight where they see any conjugations of the verb avoir.
- The class reviews.
- Then, the students should identify how "avoir" is being used: in an expression or to express possession.
- The students should write this in the margins of the lyrics and determine what each of the expressions mean.
Ex: avoir sommeil = to be sleepy/tired - The class reviews.
- Watch the video one more time and have the students follow along again, paying attention to what the song means.
- The class discusses what the song means.
Materials: song lyrics, video
Additional Resources
French.About
All about Avoir! Conjugations, usage, and expressions.
French.About
A comprehensive list of avoir expressions.
Sophia
A comprehensive tutorial on the conjugations and usage of avoir.
All about Avoir! Conjugations, usage, and expressions.
French.About
A comprehensive list of avoir expressions.
Sophia
A comprehensive tutorial on the conjugations and usage of avoir.
This video explains the conjugations and gives an example of usage of avoir.
Video courtesy of YouTuber MyFrenchTutor.
Video courtesy of YouTuber MyFrenchTutor.