Lesson 4: Family

The verb avoir

“Avoir” can be translated as “to have”.

Formation

French Verb • Present Indicative avoir to have
	Singular			Plural
first person	j’ai	jay	I have	nouszavons	noozahvohn	we have
second person	tu as	too ah	you have	vouszavez	voozahvay	you have
third person	il a	eel ah	he has	ilszont	eelzohnt	they have (masc. or mixed)
	elle a	ell ah	she has
	onna	ohnah	one has	elleszont	ellzohnt	they have (fem.)

Examples

Expressing Age

Avoir is used to express age.

• Tu as quel âge? – How old are you? [lit: You have what age?]
• J’ai trente ans. – I’m thirty (years old). [lit: I have thirty years]

There is/are – Il y a

The expression il y a means there is or there are.

• Il y a un livre. – There is a book.
• Il y a des livres. – There are books.

The Family

French Vocabulary • Family The Family La Famille
Immediate Family		Extended Family
ma famille	my family	ma famille éloignée	my extended family
les parents	parents	les grand-parents	grandparents
la mère	mother	la grand-mère	grandmother
le père	father	le grand-père	grandfather
la femme	wife	les petits-enfants	grandchildren
le mari	husband	le petit-fils	grandson
la soeur	sister	la petite-fille	granddaughter
le frère	brother	l’oncle, tonton	uncle
l’enfant	child (m or f)	la tante, tati	aunt
les enfants	children	le neveu	nephew
la fille	daughter	la nièce	niece
le fils	son	le/la cousin(e)	cousin (m or f)
Step Family
la belle-mère	stepmother	la demi-soeur	half sister
le beau-père	stepfather	le demi-frère	half brother

To speak about more complex family relations, such as “my grandmother’s cousin”, you must use the de mon/ma/mes form – “le cousin de ma grandmère”.

Direct Object Pronouns le, la, and les

le, la, and les are called direct object pronouns, because they are pronouns that are, you guessed it, used as direct objects. A direct object is a noun that is acted upon by a verb.

• Il lance la balle. – He throws the ball.

In the above sentence la balle is the direct object.
You have learned earlier that names and regular nouns can be replaced by the subject or nominative pronouns “I, you, he…” (je, tu, il…). Similary, direct objects, such as “la balle”, can be replaced by pronouns. These are a different set of pronouns (accusative). As in English, you would say “She gave him,” and not “Her gave he.” He/she are subjects used in the nominative case, while him/her are direct objects used in the accusative case.

• le – replaces a masculine singular direct object
• la – replaces a feminine singular direct object
• l’ – replaces le and la if they come before a vowel
• les – replaces plural direct objects, both masculine and feminine

The direct object pronouns come before the verb they are linked to.

• Il la lance. – He throws it.
• Il les lance. – He throws them.

Le, la, and les can replace either people or inanimate objects.