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Learn French: il y avait - there was, there were

French
/Past impersonal verbs (il y avait, il fallait)
/il y avait

il y avait

Word

il y avait

Meaning

there was, there were

Part of speech

verb

Pronunciation

Course

Lesson

Past impersonal verbs (il y avait, il fallait)

Usages of il y avait

Autrefois, il y avait un roi dans ce château.

In the past, there was a king in this castle.

Il y avait de l'électricité chez mon grand-père.

There was electricity at my grandfather's house.

En hiver, il y avait beaucoup de neige.

In winter, there was a lot of snow.

Il y avait des paysans pauvres dans mon village.

There were poor peasants in my village.

Il y avait un roi riche et un paysan pauvre.

There was a rich king and a poor peasant.

Autrefois, il y avait souvent des guerres.

In the past, there were often wars.

Est-ce qu'il y avait une maladie grave ?

Was there a serious disease?

Autrefois, il y avait des guerres et la vie était dure.

In the past, there were wars and life was hard.

S'il n'y avait pas de gravité, tout flotterait.

If there were no gravity, everything would float.

Il y avait une rumeur : un village souterrain secret existerait.

There was a rumor: a secret underground village reportedly exists.

Il y avait une didascalie avant la scène.

There was a stage direction before the scene.

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