The first time an English speaker hears j'ai vingt ans, the literal translation — "I have twenty years" — sounds wrong. It isn't. French treats most physical and mental states as possessions, not as conditions of being. You have hunger, have thirst, have fear, have twenty years. English uses be for these states (I am hungry); French uses avoir. Getting this distinction wrong is the most common A1–A2 error and produces sentences that range from amusing to genuinely confusing.
This page is the full inventory of French expressions with avoir. The pattern is simple and rigid: avoir + bare noun (no article) for nearly every state. Once you accept the pattern and stop trying to fight it with English logic, these expressions become some of the easiest French you'll learn — they conjugate exactly like avoir itself, with the noun staying frozen.
The core principle: states are possessions
In French, internal states are something you carry, not something you are. You have hunger; the hunger belongs to you. This is shared with Spanish (tengo hambre), Italian (ho fame), and Portuguese (tenho fome) — a Romance feature inherited from Latin's preference for habere in many state contexts. English is the outlier here, and English speakers must override their instinct.
There is one corollary that English speakers must internalize: because avoir is the verb, the state is never preceded by an article in standard usage. J'ai faim, not j'ai la faim or j'ai une faim. The bare noun is what marks the expression as idiomatic. (You can say j'ai une faim de loup — "I have a wolf's hunger / I'm starving" — but here the article is part of a longer expressive phrase.)
J'ai faim, on mange bientôt ?
I'm hungry, are we eating soon?
Tu as soif ? Il y a de l'eau dans le frigo.
Are you thirsty? There's water in the fridge.
Basic body states: hunger, thirst, sleep, temperature
These are the expressions you'll use every day. Master them first.
avoir faim = be hungry.
Les enfants ont faim, est-ce qu'on peut commander quelque chose ?
The kids are hungry, can we order something?
avoir soif = be thirsty.
J'ai vraiment soif après cette balade au soleil.
I'm really thirsty after that walk in the sun.
avoir sommeil = be sleepy.
J'ai sommeil, je vais me coucher tôt ce soir.
I'm sleepy, I'm going to bed early tonight.
avoir froid = be cold (the speaker feels cold).
Tu n'as pas froid en T-shirt ? Il gèle dehors.
Aren't you cold in just a T-shirt? It's freezing outside.
avoir chaud = be hot (the speaker feels hot).
J'ai chaud, je peux ouvrir la fenêtre ?
I'm hot, can I open the window?
Emotional and moral states: fear, shame, right, wrong
avoir peur (de) = be afraid (of). The preposition de introduces what you're afraid of.
J'ai peur des araignées, je sais c'est ridicule.
I'm afraid of spiders, I know it's ridiculous.
N'aie pas peur de demander si tu ne comprends pas.
Don't be afraid to ask if you don't understand.
avoir honte (de) = be ashamed (of).
J'ai honte d'avoir oublié son anniversaire.
I'm ashamed of having forgotten her birthday.
avoir raison = be right.
Tu as raison, on aurait dû partir plus tôt.
You're right, we should have left earlier.
avoir tort = be wrong.
J'avais tort à propos du film, il était excellent.
I was wrong about the movie, it was excellent.
Note the contrast with être. English speakers might be tempted to say je suis raison or je suis tort. Don't. Raison and tort are nouns that you possess.
Physical pain: avoir mal à + body part
avoir mal à = have pain in / hurt at. Followed by à + the body part (with appropriate definite article).
J'ai mal à la tête depuis ce matin, je n'ai presque pas dormi.
I've had a headache since this morning, I barely slept.
Mon père a mal au dos quand il jardine trop longtemps.
My father's back hurts when he gardens too long.
Elle a mal aux dents, elle a rendez-vous chez le dentiste demain.
Her teeth hurt, she has an appointment with the dentist tomorrow.
The body part takes the definite article, not a possessive: j'ai mal à LA tête, not j'ai mal à MA tête. French generally uses the definite article with body parts when ownership is clear from context — a feature shared with Spanish and Italian but absent from English.
Need and desire: avoir besoin de, avoir envie de
These two are essential for everyday communication and are followed by de.
avoir besoin de = need (literally "have need of"). Followed by a noun or infinitive.
J'ai besoin d'un café avant de pouvoir réfléchir.
I need a coffee before I can think.
Tu as besoin de te reposer, tu as une mine affreuse.
You need to rest, you look terrible.
avoir envie de = want / feel like (literally "have desire of"). Often softer than vouloir; closer to "feel like" than "want."
J'ai envie de pizza ce soir, pas toi ?
I feel like pizza tonight, you?
Elle n'avait pas envie de sortir, elle est restée à la maison.
She didn't feel like going out, she stayed home.
Appearance and habit: avoir l'air, avoir l'habitude de
avoir l'air (+ adj) = seem / look (a certain way). Note that this expression takes the definite article l' — it's an exception to the bare-noun rule.
Tu as l'air fatigué, tout va bien ?
You look tired, is everything okay?
There's a subtle agreement question: traditionally, the adjective agrees with air (always masculine singular — elle a l'air fatigué). In modern usage, agreement with the subject is universally accepted and arguably more common (elle a l'air fatiguée). Both are correct.
Cette tarte a l'air délicieuse, je la goûte tout de suite.
That tart looks delicious, I'm trying it right now.
avoir l'habitude de + inf = be used to / be in the habit of.
J'ai l'habitude de me lever tôt, ça ne me dérange pas.
I'm used to getting up early, it doesn't bother me.
avoir de la chance = be lucky. Note the partitive de la — luck is conceived as an uncountable quantity you possess.
Tu as de la chance d'avoir des parents aussi compréhensifs.
You're lucky to have such understanding parents.
On a eu de la chance, il a arrêté de pleuvoir juste avant le pique-nique.
We got lucky, it stopped raining just before the picnic.
The negation ne pas avoir de chance drops the article (je n'ai pas de chance — "I'm out of luck"), following the standard partitive-becomes-de rule under negation.
Time, age, and events: avoir lieu, avoir... ans, avoir le temps de
avoir... ans = be... years old. The unit is ans (years), and you must include it.
J'ai trente-deux ans et toi ?
I'm thirty-two, what about you?
Mon fils a sept ans et il commence le piano cette année.
My son is seven and he's starting piano this year.
Forgetting the ans is a classic beginner error: j'ai trente-deux by itself is incomplete and confusing.
avoir lieu = take place (of an event).
La réunion aura lieu mardi prochain à quatorze heures.
The meeting will take place next Tuesday at 2 PM.
Le concert a eu lieu malgré la pluie.
The concert took place despite the rain.
avoir le temps de + inf = have time to.
Je n'ai pas le temps de déjeuner aujourd'hui, j'ai trop de travail.
I don't have time to have lunch today, I have too much work.
Difficulty and tasks: avoir du mal à, avoir... à + inf
avoir du mal à + inf = have difficulty / find it hard to. Note the partitive du — this one's an exception that takes a partitive.
J'ai du mal à comprendre son accent.
I have trouble understanding her accent.
Il a eu du mal à finir sa thèse, mais il y est arrivé.
He had a hard time finishing his thesis, but he managed.
avoir + qch + à + inf = have something to do (with the thing as direct object). Productive, very flexible.
J'ai des e-mails à écrire avant la fin de la journée.
I have emails to write before the end of the day.
Tu as quelque chose à me dire ?
Do you have something to tell me?
This pattern lets you build endless useful expressions: avoir des choses à faire (have things to do), avoir une lettre à envoyer (have a letter to send), avoir un examen à passer (have an exam to take).
A useful negative: ne plus avoir
A small but practical pattern: ne plus avoir + bare noun = "no longer have / be no longer."
Je n'ai plus faim, merci, c'était délicieux.
I'm not hungry anymore, thank you, that was delicious.
On n'a plus de pain, je vais à la boulangerie.
We're out of bread, I'm going to the bakery.
The transition from avoir + bare noun (state) to avoir de + noun (possession of a substance) is grammatically distinct, but both come up constantly.
Common Mistakes
❌ Je suis trente ans.
Incorrect — age uses *avoir*, never *être*.
✅ J'ai trente ans.
I'm thirty years old.
❌ J'ai la faim.
Incorrect — *avoir faim* takes no article.
✅ J'ai faim.
I'm hungry.
❌ Je suis froid.
Incorrect — for the speaker's body sensation use *avoir froid*; *je suis froid* describes the speaker's personality (cold-hearted).
✅ J'ai froid, je vais mettre un pull.
I'm cold, I'm going to put on a sweater.
❌ J'ai mal à ma tête.
Incorrect — body parts in pain take the definite article, not the possessive.
✅ J'ai mal à la tête.
I have a headache.
❌ J'ai besoin un café.
Incorrect — *avoir besoin* requires *de* before the object.
✅ J'ai besoin d'un café.
I need a coffee.
❌ J'ai peur les chiens.
Incorrect — *avoir peur* takes *de* before the object of fear.
✅ J'ai peur des chiens.
I'm afraid of dogs.
❌ Je suis vingt-cinq.
Incorrect — age uses *avoir*, and *ans* must be included.
✅ J'ai vingt-cinq ans.
I'm twenty-five years old.
The unifying error here is the same one: English speakers default to être for states because that's what English does. The cure is repetition with high-frequency expressions until j'ai faim and j'ai trente ans feel as natural as I'm hungry and I'm thirty. After a few weeks of conscious practice, the être-instinct disappears and avoir takes its place.
Now practice French
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning French→Related Topics
- Les Expressions Idiomatiques: OverviewB1 — How French builds everyday meaning from fixed verb-plus-noun collocations with avoir, faire, être, and prendre — and why the article disappears.
- Expressions avec FaireB1 — The dozens of fixed expressions French builds with faire — chores, sports, weather, abstract effort, and idiomatic se faire — explained with cultural context and the article rules that govern them.
- Expressions avec ÊtreA2 — How French uses être with prepositions to mark progressive aspect, imminent action, location-states, and dozens of conditions and attitudes — with the rules that govern agreement and prepositions.
- Expressions avec PrendreB1 — From taking the metro to taking one's time to catching a cold — the full inventory of French expressions with prendre, including idiomatic uses with se prendre.
- Copular Verbs: être, devenir, sembler, paraître, resterA2 — The verbs that link a subject to a predicate noun or adjective in French — and the agreement, register, and subjunctive choices that come with them.
- Le Présent: Avoir (to have)A1 — The full conjugation, the avoir-sensation idioms (j'ai faim, j'ai 25 ans), and the dual life of avoir as both lexical verb of possession and the auxiliary for most compound tenses.