Verb Avoir : Common Expressions in French Easy to Memorize

French verb faire

The French verb avoir (meaning 'to have') is an extremely important verb if you start learning French.  

It's also used as an auxiliary verb in several tenses. The French verb avoir ("to have") is one of the most useful, flexible, and basic verbs in the French language, which is used in many everyday sentences, as well as idiomatic expressions.

French idiomatic expressions using avoir take you on a tour of the human condition, from feeling down, say your age, having charm to having the giggles, being right to being wrong.

In this week’s post, I share with you a list of these French expressions with the verb Faire divided into categories including idiomatic expressions.

French verb Avoir to express basic needs, pains or desires

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Most of these verbs use the verb to be in English

  • Avoir + age: to have - Elle a 20 ans She is 20 years old

  • Avoir soif: to be thirsty -J’ai soif I am thirsty

  • Avoir faim : to be hungry- Est-ce que tu as faim ? Are you hungry?

  • Avoir sommeil: to feel sleepy - Le bébé a sommeil The baby feels sleppy

  • Avoir besoin: to need (followed by a noun or by a second verb non conjugated)- J’ai besoin d’une réponse demain  I need an answer tomorrow

  • Avoir envie de: to feel like (followed by a noun or by a second verb non conjugated)- J’ai envie de boire une bière I feel like drinking a beer

  • Avoir mal à (au - à la): to have a pain in - J’ai mal au dos I have a pain in my back

  • Avoir un fou rire: to have a giggle - Elle a un fou rire à chaque fois qu’il parle - She has a giggle each time he speaks

  • Avoir du charme : to be charming - Cette femme a beaucoup de charme - This woman is charming

French verb Avoir to express feelings, statements

 

The verb avoir will express a wide variety of feelings or states of being. You can use avoir expressions to convey feelings and mental states:

  • Avoir raison: to be right - Tu as raison You are right

  • Avoir tord: to be wrong - Elle a tord She is wrong

  • Avoir peur: to be scared- Il a peur des araignées He is scared of spiders

  • Avoir horreur de: to hate something - Elle a horreur des serpents She hates snakes

  • Avoir de la chance: to be Lucky - Elle a beaucoup de chance She is very lucky

  • Avoir le cafard (idiom) - To feel down Il a la cafard (a cafard: a cockroach)

  • Avoir le coup de foudre (idiom): love at the first sight - Elle a eu un coup de foudre She immediately feel in love

  • Avoir un fou-rire: to burst out laughing -Elle a souvent des fou-rires She often burst out laughing

  • Avoir l’impression que: to have the sens that - J’ai l’impression qu’il ment I have the sense that he lies

  • Avoir l’air: to look like (+ adjective) - Elle a l’air fatiguée She looks tired

  • Avoir confiance en soi: to be self-confident - J’ai confiance en moi  I am self-confident

  • Avoir en confiance en quelqu’un : to trust someone - Elle a confiance en toi  She trusts you

  • Avoir hâte: to be looking forward to doing something - J’ai hâte de partir en vacances I am looking forward to going on vacations

  • Avoir l’habitude de: to be used to - Il a l’habitude de se lever tôt He is used to get up early

  • Avoir honte de: to be ashamed - Il a honte de son père He is ashamed of his father

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