avoir

From Middle French avoir, from Old French avoir, aveir, aver, from Latin habeō (“have, hold, possess”), probably from a Proto-Italic *habēō or *haβēō, possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰh₁bʰ- (“to grab, to take”). Influenced and reinforced by similar (yet etymologically unrelated) verbs in Germanic; compare Frankish *habēn, Frankish *hebōn (“to have”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌽 (haban, “to have”).

See closer cognates in regional languages in France : Angevin avouèr, Bourbonnais-Berrichon avoér, Bourguignon aivoi, Champenois aouâr, Corsican avè, Franco-Provençal avêr, Franc-Comtois aivoi, Gallo avair, Lorrain ahoir, Norman avaer, Occitan aver, Picard avoèr, Tourangeau avouèr.

• IPA^(key): /a.vwaʁ/

• audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -waʁ

avoir m (plural avoirs)

1. asset, possession

avoir

1. (transitive) to have (to own; to possess)

   J'aimerais avoir 20 dollars. ― I would like to have 20 dollars.

2. (intransitive, with à) to have (to), must

   J'ai à vous parler. ― I have to talk to you.

3. (auxiliary) to have (auxiliary verb to form compound past tenses of most verbs)

   J'ai parlé. ― I have spoken.

4. (transitive) to have (a condition)

   J'ai faim. ― I'm hungry. (literally, “I have hunger.”)

   J'ai froid. ― I'm cold. (literally, “I have cold.”)

5. (transitive) to have (a measure or age)

   Elle a 19 ans. ― She is 19 years old. (literally, “She has 19 years.”)

6. to have (to trick)

   Tu t'es fait avoir. ― You've been had.

7. to have (to participate in an experience)

   avoir des relations sexuelles

   to have sexual relations

Avoir is often used with nouns like chaud (“heat”), faim (“hunger”), soif (“thirst”), peur (“fear”), etc. to express a personal condition or feeling, as shown in examples above. While constructions like être affamé (“to be starving/starved”) and être assoiffé (“to be thirsty”) exist, they are almost always used figuratively. It is always more natural to use avoir rather than être in the examples listed above, and other similar cases. In some cases, both verbs can be used, but with vastly different meanings:

J'ai chaud. ― I'm hot. (I feel hot) (literally, “I have the heat.”)

Je suis chaud. ― I'm horny.

Pages starting with "avoir".

• il y a
• y avoir
• n'y a-t-il
• y a-t-il

• être

• “avoir” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

• avoyr

From Old French avoir, aveir, from Latin habeō (“have, hold, possess”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰh₁bʰ- (“to grab, to take”).

• IPA^(key): /a.vwer/

avoir

1. to have
2. (auxiliary) to have (verb used to form the perfect tense)

• Like Modern French avoir, highly irregular
• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

• French: avoir

• avoir on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330-1500) (in French)

• aveir
• aver
• avoyr

From earlier aveir, aver, from Latin habeō (“have, hold, possess”).

• IPA^(key): /aˈvojr/

avoir

1. to have
2. (auxiliary) to have (verb used to form the perfect tense)
3. to exist (there is/there are)
   • c. 1200, Author unknown, Les quatres sohais Saint Martin:

     Un vilain ot en Normendie

     There was a peasant in Normandy

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb has irregularities in its conjugation. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

avoir m (oblique plural avoirs, nominative singular avoirs, nominative plural avoir)

1. possession; good
   • circa 1170, Chrétien de Troyes, Érec et Énide:

     C'est mes avoirs, c'est mes tresorz.

     It is my possession, it is my treasure.

   • circa 1250, Rutebeuf, Ci encoumence la vie de Sainte Marie l'Egypcienne:

     Robes, deniers ne autre avoir
     Ne voloit de l'autrui avoir.

     Not clothing, nor money, nor other possessions
     Did she want to have from others.

• Bourguignon: aivoi
• English: aver (from aver, aveir)
• Middle French: avoir
  • French: avoir
• Picard: avoèr
• Norman: aveir, aver (from aver, aveir)
• Walloon: aveur (from aver, aveir)