Present tense of the French verb avoir – to have

Avoir is one of the two French auxiliary verbs. It’s one of the most used and one of the most useful verbs in French.

What’s the present tense of avoir?

Here is the conjugation of the verb avoir in the French present tense with its pronunciation.

Useful expressions with avoir

Here are some French expressions with avoir you need to know and remember:

avoir sommeil = to be sleepy

J’ai sommeil.

avoir faim = to be hungry

Tu as faim.

avoir soif = to be thirsty

Il a soif.

avoir peur de = to be afraid of

Elle a peur des araignées.

avoir chaud = to be hot

Nous avons chaud.

avoir froid = to be cold

Vous avez froid.

avoir mal à la tête = to have a headache

Ils ont mal à la tête.

avoir besoin de = to need

Elles ont besoin de temps

Avoir is also used to talk about someone’s age.

avoir X ans = to be X years old

Examples :

J’ai 25 ans.

Tom a 32 ans

Now test yourself with a quiz on the conjugation of avoir!

More lessons on French conjugation:

You might be intersted in the French present of  être, French regular -er verbs, French regular -ir verbs, or  irregular verbs like aller, croire.