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How to say "there is/are"
LESSON FOCUS
Objectifs de la leçon
1. to learn to use the expression il y a
2. to expand vocabulary
Niveau
A1 - niveau découverte (beginner)
Il y a
Il y a is a very useful expression in French. It means there is/there are.
This expression is formed of: subject pronoun il + pronoun y + verb avoir (to have) in the third person singular.
Where in English, this expression uses the verb to be and changes from singular to plural according to what follows, in French, we use the verb avoir (to have) in the third person singular, regardless of what follows:
- Il y a une assiette sur la table.
There is a plate on the table.
- Il y a des fourchettes sur la table.
There are some forks on the table.
- Il y a 30 élèves dans la classe.
There are 30 pupils in the classroom.
Il y a : passé et futur
This expression can also be used in the past or in the future:
- Il y a eu de nombreuses manifestations l’année dernière.
There have been many demonstrations last year.
- Il y aura du vent demain*.
It will be windy tomorrow.
- Il y avait toujours du monde à la fête du village.
There always were a lot of people at the village fête.
*please note how ‘il y a’ is often used to describe the weather : Il y a du vent (it is windy), il y a du soleil (it is sunny), il y a du brouillard (it is foggy).
Il y a : négation
Now, let’s put this expression in the negative form, using the same examples we saw earlier:
- Il y a une assiette sur la table. → Il n’y a pas d’assiette sur la table.
There is a plate on the table. → There is no plate on the table.
- Il y a des fourchettes sur la table. → Il n’y a pas de fourchettes sur la table.
There are some forks on the table. → There are no forks on the table.
- Il y aura du vent demain. → Il n’y aura pas de vent demain.
It will be windy tomorrow. → It will not be windy tomorrow.
As you can see, we use n’ instead of ne because y is a vowel. n’ always comes before y in this structure. Also, the indefinite article une/un/des is replaced with de.
Il y a : "ago"
Il y a can be used to refer to a period of time in the past. In English, it would be translated by “ago”.
- J’ai appris à conduire il y a 10 ans.
I learnt to drive 10 years ago.
- Nous avons rencontré Tom dans le parc il y a deux heures.
We met Tom in the park two hours ago.
- Il y a longtemps que je n’ai pas eu de nouvelles de Sophie.
It has been a long time since I heard from Sophie.