Basic French Grammar Topics
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Course Content
French Greetings3 Topics -
Subject Pronouns3 Topics
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The Verb "to be"4 Topics
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The Verb "to have"3 Topics
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Negative Sentences3 Topics
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The Definite Article3 Topics
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The Indefinite Article3 Topics
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Zero Article3 Topics
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Partitive Articles3 Topics
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Adjectives4 Topics
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The Order of Adjectives3 Topics
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-ER Verbs (present)3 Topics
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Possessive Adjectives3 Topics
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Interrogatives4 Topics
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-IR Verbs (present tense)3 Topics
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-RE Verbs (present tense)3 Topics
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Possession3 Topics
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The Verb "to make" "to do"3 Topics
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Weather Expressions4 Topics
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Numbers 1-1004 Topics
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The Date3 Topics
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Telling Time3 Topics
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The Expression "there is" "there are"3 Topics
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The Verb "to go"2 Topics
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The Near Future3 Topics
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The Expression "it is necessary"3 Topics
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Demonstrative Adjectives3 Topics
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Possessive Pronouns3 Topics
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The Verb "to put"3 Topics
Participants 257
Lesson-French The Expression “there is” “there are”
Stephen Sovenyhazy March 18, 2024
The French expression Il y a means “There is” or “There are.” It can also express [a certain amount of time] “ago.”
In separate parts, the expression il y a does not add up to the meaning that it has all together.
Il – subject pronoun for “it”
y – adverbial pronoun for “there”
a – third person singular conjugation of avoir meaning “has”
Using Il y a in statements
Il y aune faute avec votre billet. Il y a+ indefinite article + noun
There is a mistake with your ticket.
Il y a quinze joueurs dans l’équipe. Il y a + number + noun
There are 15 players on the team.
Il y a beaucoup de vols ce soir. Il y a + indefinite adjective/pronoun
There are a lot of flights tonight.
Negation:
Il n’y a pas de…. There isn’t any/There aren’t any…
Notes:
- The letter a, or the third person singular version of avoir, acts as the “verb” of the expression. The “ne” and the “pas” in the negation version of the expression sandwich the a in addition to the adverbial pronoun, y.
- To express this phrase in a different tense (i.e. There were… or There will be…), you must conjugate the third component, avoir (or a) to fit the desired verb tense. We will learn these conjugations of avoir in a later module.
- Remember when you negate a sentence, the indefinite article will always change to de. See A1.1 Module 7 to review indefinite articles.
Using Il y a in questions
Est-ce qu’il y a…Is it that there is/are…
Y a-t-il…Are/Is there…
Qu’est-ce qu’il y a? What’s wrong?
Expressing “ago”
The French equivalent of expressing “ago,” is when the phrase Il y a is followed by a period of time.
La famille a voyagé en Espagne il y a neuf mois. | The family traveled to Spain nine months ago. | |
Il y a 7 ans, j’ai reçu mon diplôme. | Seven years ago, I received my diploma.. | |
Les professeurs se sont rencontrés il y a deux semestres. | The professors met each other two semesters ago. |
Useful vocabulary to remember:
an – year
mois – month
semaine – week
jour – day
heures – hours
minutes – seconds