Verb Avoir

Avoir is yet another basic verb that you will often come across when speaking French. Just like aller, it can be used both in sentences and grammatical constructions.

Usage in the Sentence

Rule 1: Verb avoir means "to have," and you can use it to indicate possession of a certain object.

Rule 2: It is also used to indicate somebody's age - in such a case, it will be translated as "to be."

Conjugation

Avoir is yet another irregular verb that you have to memorize:

Rule 3: Note that with the first person, avoir contracts just like any other verb that starts with a vowel, forming j'ai.

Usage in Grammatical Constructions

Rule 4: Avoir is also used in compound tenses. In this example you can see the passé composé tense equal to the English past tense, and the conjugated form of avoir is placed before the verb “to sing."

Rule 5: In compound tenses, it also serves as an auxiliary verb when the verbs avoir and être are used as main verbs. Here is another example with the passé composé.