Il y a dix étudiants dans la classe.

There are ten students in the class.

Breakdown of Il y a dix étudiants dans la classe.

• être: to be
• dans: in
• l'étudiant: the student
• la classe: the class
• dix: ten

Questions & Answers about Il y a dix étudiants dans la classe.

What does il y a literally mean, and how is it built?

Il y a is the standard way to say “there is / there are” in French.

Literally:

• il = a dummy subject pronoun (it doesn’t refer to a person)
• y = an adverbial pronoun meaning roughly “there”
• a = “has”, 3rd person singular of avoir (to have)

So, taken word‑for‑word, il y a is like “it there has”, which French uses to express existence: “there is / there are.”

Why do we use il y a here instead of something with être, like il est or ils sont?

French uses il y a to talk about the existence or presence of things: how many there are, whether there is something in a place, etc.

• Il y a dix étudiants dans la classe.
  → “There are ten students in the class.” (stating existence/quantity)

If you use être, you are usually just describing where something/someone is:

• Dix étudiants sont dans la classe.
  → “Ten students are in the classroom.” (focusing on where they are)

Both sentences are correct, but:

• Il y a… = “there is/are…”
• X sont dans la classe = “X are in the class (location)”

Why is a singular in il y a even though étudiants is plural?

In il y a, the verb a agrees with il, not with étudiants.

• il is always 3rd person singular,
• so a (from avoir) is always 3rd person singular: il y a.

This structure doesn’t change with the number of things:

• Il y a un étudiant. – “There is one student.”
• Il y a dix étudiants. – “There are ten students.”

Only the tense changes, not the number of the verb:

• il y avait, il y aura, il y aurait, etc., but always with a singular form.

How would I say “There were / there will be ten students in the class”?

For the past (“there were”):

• Most common, descriptive past (imparfait):
  Il y avait dix étudiants dans la classe.
  → There were ten students in the class. (describing a situation)

• Completed event (passé composé), less common here:
  Il y a eu dix étudiants dans la classe.
  → There were ten students in the class (at some specific moment).

For the future (“there will be”):

• Il y aura dix étudiants dans la classe.
  → There will be ten students in the class.

Spoken near future:

• Il va y avoir dix étudiants dans la classe.
  → “There are going to be ten students in the class.”

How do I make this sentence negative, like “There aren’t ten students in the class” or “There are no students in the class”?

Use ne … pas around y a, and watch what happens to the article:

1. “There aren’t ten students in the class” (for example, there are only eight):

   • Il n’y a pas dix étudiants dans la classe.

2. “There are no students in the class” / “There aren’t any students in the class”:

   • Il n’y a pas d’étudiants dans la classe.

Note that in the second example, des étudiants becomes d’étudiants after pas (typical French rule: after ne… pas with an indefinite plural, des → de / d’).

How do I turn this into a question: “Are there ten students in the class?”

You have three common options, all correct:

1. Est-ce qu’il y a dix étudiants dans la classe ?
   – Very common and neutral.

2. Y a-t-il dix étudiants dans la classe ?
   – More formal / written style (inversion).

3. Il y a dix étudiants dans la classe ? (with rising intonation)
   – Spoken, informal; sounds like “There are ten students in the class?” / “So there are ten students in the class?”

What is the difference between dans la classe and en classe?

• dans la classe = physically inside that specific classroom or in that particular class:

  • Il y a dix étudiants dans la classe.
    → There are ten students in the (that) classroom.

• en classe = more like “in class” (during lesson time, as a situation):

  • Les étudiants sont en classe.
    → The students are in class (having a lesson).

You usually do not say en la classe in standard French.
Use:

• dans la classe for a specific room,
• en classe for the general situation of being in a lesson.

Why is it la classe and not une classe?

La classe uses the definite article (the class) because we are talking about a particular, known class (for example, the class you are in right now, or a class already identified in the context).

• Il y a dix étudiants dans la classe.
  → There are ten students in the (that) class.

If you say une classe, you mean “a class” in a non-specific way:

• Il y a dix étudiants dans une classe.
  → There are ten students in a class. (in some class, not a particular one already known)

French uses the definite article la / le / les very often where English uses just the bare noun or context (“class”, “school”, etc.).

What is the difference between étudiants and élèves?

Both mean “students,” but the usual distinction is:

• un étudiant / des étudiants
  → normally university students or sometimes higher education (college-level).

• un élève / des élèves
  → mainly school pupils (elementary, middle school, high school).

So:

• Il y a dix étudiants dans la classe.
  → likely a university class.
• Il y a dix élèves dans la classe.
  → likely a school classroom.

In everyday speech, people sometimes blur the distinction, but this is the general rule.

How do you pronounce Il y a dix étudiants dans la classe? Is there a liaison in dix étudiants?

Key points of pronunciation (in an approximate English-friendly way):

• Il y a → /il‿ja/
  Sounds like: eel-ya (said quickly as one unit).

• dix on its own → /dis/
  But before a vowel, you make a liaison, and the x is pronounced like z:

  • dix étudiants → /di.z‿e.ty.djɑ̃/
    Roughly: dee zay-tu-dyan (with a nasal sound at the end of étudiants).

• dans → /dɑ̃/ (nasal vowel, not like “danss”; no clear “n” at the end).

• la classe → /la klas/

Altogether, roughly:

• eel-ya dee zay-tu-dyan dahn la klass

How does the sentence change if all the students are female?

You change étudiants (masculine plural) to étudiantes (feminine plural):

• Il y a dix étudiantes dans la classe.

Spelling:

• un étudiant → une étudiante
• des étudiants → des étudiantes

Pronunciation:

• The final -e and -s in étudiantes are still silent in standard speech; the main audible difference is in the consonant t before the silent ending, which is already there in étudiant.

Can I say Dix étudiants sont dans la classe instead? Is there any nuance?

Yes, Dix étudiants sont dans la classe is perfectly correct.

Nuance:

• Il y a dix étudiants dans la classe.
  → Neutral way to say “There are ten students in the class” (existence/quantity).

• Dix étudiants sont dans la classe.
  → Puts “ten students” in subject position and sounds a bit more like you’re talking about their location (ten students are in the classroom) or contrasting them with others.

In many real situations, both can be used without a big difference, but il y a is the default for “there is / there are.”

Why is there no de before étudiants after the number dix?

With exact numbers, French normally uses the bare plural noun, without de:

• dix étudiants
• trois livres
• vingt personnes

You use de / d’ with indefinite quantities such as:

• beaucoup d’étudiants – a lot of students
• peu d’étudiants – few students
• une dizaine d’étudiants – about ten students

You also use de when you mean “ten of my students / ten of them”:

• dix de mes étudiants – ten of my students
• dix d’entre eux – ten of them

But for a simple number + noun like in your sentence, it’s just:

• Il y a dix étudiants dans la classe.

How can I say things like “about ten students” or “a lot of students in the class” instead of exactly ten?

Here are some common alternatives:

• Il y a environ dix étudiants dans la classe.
  → There are about ten students in the class.

• Il y a une dizaine d’étudiants dans la classe.
  → There are around ten students in the class.
  (une dizaine de = roughly “a group of about ten”)

• Il y a beaucoup d’étudiants dans la classe.
  → There are a lot of students in the class.

• Il y a peu d’étudiants dans la classe.
  → There are few students in the class.

Notice how with these vague quantities (une dizaine de, beaucoup de, peu de), you must use de / d’ before étudiants.