How to conjugate avoir (to have) in French in all tenses & moods

The verb “avoir” is key in French. It’s not only one of the most used words in the “langue de Molières”, but also the most common auxiliary — or helping — verb.

It’s used to:

• State a possession - J’ai une maison sur la Côte d’Azur / I have a house on the French Riviera (lucky you!)
• Explain a relationship (family or not) - J’ai une grande soeur / I have an older sister
• Say your age - J’ai 20 ans / I am 20
• Express the most basic needs - J’ai faim / I’m hungry, J’ai froid / I’m cold, J’ai sommeil / I’m sleepy
• Express your emotions and the way you feel (both physically and mentally) - J’ai peur / I’m scared, J’ai mal à la tête / I have a headache
• Conjugate other French verbs in the passé composé and other compound tenses - J’ai fait du vélo aujourd’hui / I rode my bike today
• Express a craving or a wish - J’ai envie de fromage / I’m craving cheese (who doesn’t?)
• And so much more!

That’s a lot of reasons to learn this French vocab chameleon, don’t you think?

Yes, “avoir” has it all, so keep reading to learn avoir conjugation in French!

The verb avoir

Avoir means “to have”, as a standalone verb. But this little guy is also an auxiliary verb to indicate a verb tense.

Oh, and this legen — wait for it — dary word can also be a noun. In that case, it basically means “store credit” or “asset”.

Unfortunately for everyone who is allergic to grammar, our dear avoir is irregular. But the good news is, you’ll use it so much when speaking and learning French that you’ll know the main avoir conjugations in no time!

French verb “to have” conjugation chart

Before digging into the conjugations, be sure to have a look at our article on French pronouns.

Present tense

Mindfulness is all about focusing on the present moment.

So, say “oooooom” and learn the present of “avoir”!

Imperfect

The imparfait is the easiest tense to talk about the past in French. It’s also one of the easiest to learn, as it doesn’t vary much, even for irregular verbs. (Im)parfait !

Future

They say the future is now. Ok, let’s not make this more confusing! The future tense allows us to express something that will happen… drum rolls… in the future!

What about an alternate future?

Conditional (present)

The French conditionnel can be used as a tense and as a mood. As a tense, it’s used to express the future from a point of view in the past. As a mood, it’s used to express a fictional/hypothetical reality.

Subjunctive (present)

Widely used in French and other Romance languages, the subjunctive indicates subjectivity, uncertainty or unreality.

Imperfect subjunctive

Admittedly, the pompous imperfect subjunctive is not used anymore, except in literature and history. It’s used when linked to a subordinate clause in the past. However, nowadays, it has been replaced by the past subjunctive (see below) or present subjunctive (see above).

Passé composé

Don’t let its name put you off. The passé composé is very easy to learn, and even more so for the verb “have” as you get two “avoir” for the price of one!

Past perfect

Same structure as the passé composé, but the first “avoir” is in the past tense.

Future perfect

This is pretty advanced but will surely help you stand out! The futur antérieur expresses a future event or action that will be completed before another future event or action.

Past conditional

The past conditional in French can be used to talk about something that could, would or should have, but didn't happen.

Past subjunctive

In French, the past subjunctive is used to express doubt, emotion or uncertainty.

Pluperfect subjunctive

This is a very rare and so very vintage verb form. The perfect occasion to show off!

Passé simple

While not so common in current spoken French, you’ll find the passé simple in many books which take place in the past.

Past anterior

Ok, it’s quite unlikely that you’ll ever need this tense. But it’s a wonderful tongue twisting exercise with the “avoir” verb!

Imperative mood

You won’t hear our example sentence below very often, unless someone is really keen on you adopting a rabbit. More frequently, “avoir” in the imperative mood is used with the negative tense, for example: N’ayez crainte/N’ayez pas peur (Don’t be scared).

The verb “avoir” is a real Jack of all trades.

If you need a little music help to learn it, listen to this tribute song to Ella Fitzgerald by France Galle: Ella elle l’a. The title is a pun with “Elle l’a” (She’s got it) and “Ella”.

And si tu as envie to take your French skills to the next level, check out our articles on adjectives and possessive adjectives in French.

Tu as tout compris ? Alors j’ai accompli ma mission !