Learn French: Nous avons eu beaucoup de chance.

Nous avons eu beaucoup de chance.

We had a lot of luck.

Breakdown of Nous avons eu beaucoup de chance.

nous

we / us (object pronoun)

Questions & Answers about Nous avons eu beaucoup de chance.

Why are we using a form of the verb avoir twice here with avons eu?

In the passé composé, you need a helper verb (here, avons) and a past participle. Because the main verb you want to use is also avoir (to have), its past participle is eu. So avons eu means exactly what it looks like: "have had", which we usually just translate as "had".

How do I pronounce the past participle eu?

Even though it is spelled eu, it is pronounced exactly like the single French letter u (the tight vowel sound in words like tu or jus).

Why is it beaucoup de chance instead of beaucoup de la chance?

After expressions of quantity like beaucoup (a lot), French drops the le, la, or les that normally goes with the noun. You just use a plain de (or d' before a vowel).

Does chance mean the same thing as the English word "chance"?

It looks the same, but in French chance usually means "luck". So avoir de la chance means "to be lucky" or "to have luck". If you want to talk about a "chance" as in an opportunity, French usually uses the word occasion.