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### Two meanings of il y a

You probably already know that **il y a** means "there is" or "there are" when describing what exists around you.

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But when you are talking about completed events in the past, **il y a** takes on a second, very useful meaning!

### Expressing "ago"

When followed by a measurement of time, **il y a** translates to "ago". To say how long ago something happened, simply state what happened in the past tense (like the *passé composé*), and add **il y a** plus your time expression at the end of the sentence.

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### Historical timelines

When talking about history or archaeological discoveries, you'll often need to look much further back than just a few years. You can pair **il y a** with large spans of time like **un siècle** (a century) or **un millénaire** (a millennium).

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If you don't know the exact date a civilization disappeared or a tomb was built, you can also just use **longtemps** (a long time).

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Past time marker (il y a...)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

contraction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

phrase

prep

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Singular 'to be' and indefinite articles (je suis un...)

Singular definite articles (le, la, l')

Identifying vs. describing (c'est vs. il est)

Feminine adjective agreement (+e)

Plural pronouns and 'to be' (nous sommes, vous êtes)

Formal and informal you (tu vs. vous)

Plural nouns and indefinite articles (des... -s)

Plural definite articles (les)

Plural adjective agreement (+s)

Stressed pronouns (moi, toi, lui)

The verb "to have" singular (j'ai, tu as, il a)

The verb "to have" plural (nous avons, vous avez, ils ont)

There is / there are (il y a)

Basic verbal negation (ne... pas)

Negating "there is" (il n'y a pas de)

Regular -er verbs singular (je parle, tu parles, il parle)

Regular -er verbs plural (nous parlons, vous parlez, ils parlent)

The verb "to be called" (s'appeler)

Yes/no questions with intonation (Tu parles ?)

Yes/no questions with "Est-ce que" (Est-ce que tu parles ?)

Informal questions (qui, que, quoi)

Standard questions (est-ce que)

Singular possessives (mon, ton, son)

Plural possessives (notre, votre, leur)

Demonstrative adjectives (ce, cet, cette, ces)

Adjective placement

Numbers 1 to 20

Numbers 21 to 100

Age and physical states (avoir)

The verb to go (aller)

The preposition to/at (à, au, aux)

Question word for location (où)

Prepositions for cities and countries (à, en, au, aux)

The verb to come (venir)

The preposition from/of (de, du, des)

Question word for origin (d'où)

The verb to do/make (faire)

Days of the week (lundi, mardi)

Telling time (il est... heure)

Question words for time (quand, à quelle heure)

The verb to take or have (prendre)

The verb to drink (boire)

Partitive articles (du, de la, de l')

Zero quantity (pas de)

Expressions of quantity (un peu de, beaucoup de)

Asking how much or how many (combien, combien de)

Very vs. a lot (très, beaucoup)

The verb to want (vouloir)

Polite requests (je voudrais)

The verb to be able to (pouvoir)

Obligation (devoir)

General obligation (il faut)

Why and because (pourquoi, parce que)

Expressing purpose (pour)

Reflexive pronouns (me, te, se, nous, vous)

Daily routine verbs (se lever, s'habiller)

Adverbs of frequency (parfois, rarement)

Never (ne... jamais)

Regular -ir verbs (choisir, finir)

Regular -re verbs (attendre, répondre)

Irregular -ir verbs (sortir, partir, dormir)

Informal 'we' (on)

The imperative mood

Direct object pronouns (le, la, les, l')

The near future (aller + infinitive)

The recent past (venir de + infinitive)

The passé composé with avoir

Irregular past participles (eu, été, fait, pris, vu)

The passé composé with être

The negative passé composé (ne ... pas)

Saying goodbye

Please, sorry and thank you

Which / what (quel)

The indefinite adjective (tout, tous)

Irregular feminine adjectives (-euse, -ve)

Double consonant adjectives (-enne, -ette)

Feminine adjective endings (-ère, -trice)

Irregular plurals (-x)

Plurals ending in -al (-aux)

Present tense stem changes (e to è)

Accent stem changes (é to è)

Double consonant verbs (appeler, jeter)

Verbs ending in -yer (payer, envoyer)

Irregular communication verbs (dire, lire)

Irregular action verbs (écrire, mettre)

Question	Answer
the archaeologist (m)	l'archéologue
ago	il y a
the century	le siècle
The archaeologists found this castle a century ago.	Les archéologues ont trouvé ce château il y a un siècle.
the civilization	la civilisation
to disappear	disparaître
the millennium	le millénaire
This ancient civilization disappeared a millennium ago.	Cette ancienne civilisation a disparu il y a un millénaire.
the ruin	la ruine
We discovered some ruins a year ago.	On a découvert des ruines il y a un an.
to build	construire
the tomb	la tombe
The king built this tomb three millennia ago.	Le roi a construit cette tombe il y a trois millénaires.
the bone (m)	l'os
An archaeologist found a bone ten years ago.	Un archéologue a trouvé un os il y a dix ans.
When is the archaeologist coming to see the ruins?	L'archéologue vient voir les ruines quand ?
the statue	la statue
The beautiful statue disappeared a long time ago.	La belle statue a disparu il y a longtemps.
They built this large statue a month ago.	Ils ont construit cette grande statue il y a un mois.
There are ancient bones in this tomb.	Il y a des os anciens dans cette tombe.
This story started a millennium ago.	Cette histoire a commencé il y a un millénaire.
A civilization disappeared a century ago.	Une civilisation a disparu il y a un siècle.
last year	l'année dernière
Last year, we went to Italy.	L'année dernière, nous sommes allés en Italie.
I visited Rome last year.	J'ai visité Rome l'année dernière.
in a little while; a little while ago	tout à l'heure
I saw him a little while ago.	Je l'ai vu tout à l'heure.
We are leaving in a little while.	Nous partons tout à l'heure.
the past	le passé
He often talks about the past.	Il parle souvent du passé.
This book tells the city's past.	Ce livre raconte le passé de la ville.

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