Il n’y a plus de lait dans le frigo.

Il y a is the standard French expression for there is / there are.

So:

• Il y a du lait = There is some milk.
• Il n’y a plus de lait = There is no more milk.

Even though il usually means he/it, in il y a it does not refer to a person or thing. You should learn il y a as one fixed expression.

This is the negative form of il y a.

Breakdown:

• il y a = there is / there are
• ne ... plus = no longer / no more

When ne comes before a word starting with a vowel sound, it becomes n’:

• ne y a → n’y a

So:

• Il y a du lait = There is some milk.
• Il n’y a plus de lait = There is no more milk.

The y is part of the fixed expression il y a.

Here, plus means no more or no longer because it is used with ne / n’.

So:

• Il y a encore du lait = There is still some milk.
• Il n’y a plus de lait = There is no more milk.

Be careful: plus can also mean more in other contexts.

For example:

• Je veux plus de lait can mean I want more milk in informal spoken French.
• Je ne veux plus de lait means I don’t want any more milk.

So the presence or absence of ne changes the meaning.

After a negative expression like ne ... plus, French usually uses de instead of the partitive article (du, de la, de l’, des).

Compare:

• Il y a du lait dans le frigo. = There is some milk in the fridge.
• Il n’y a plus de lait dans le frigo. = There is no more milk in the fridge.

This is a very common pattern:

• J’ai du pain. = I have some bread.
• Je n’ai plus de pain. = I have no more bread.

So de lait is the normal form after negation here.

Because after negation, French normally changes du / de la / de l’ / des to de.

So:

• positive: du lait
• negative: plus de lait

That is why Il n’y a plus du lait sounds wrong in normal French.

Dans means in / inside, and le frigo means the fridge.

So dans le frigo = in the fridge.

Word-by-word:

• dans = in
• le = the
• frigo = fridge

Yes, frigo is a very common everyday word. It is the usual informal word for fridge.

You can also say réfrigérateur, which is the full, more formal word for refrigerator.

So both are possible:

• Il n’y a plus de lait dans le frigo.
• Il n’y a plus de lait dans le réfrigérateur.

In normal conversation, most people would say frigo.

It is masculine, which is why the sentence has le frigo.

So you say:

• le frigo
• un frigo

Not:

• la frigo
• une frigo

In Il n’y a plus de lait, plus is usually pronounced plu, with the final s silent.

That is the usual pronunciation when plus means no more / no longer.

So it sounds roughly like:

• Il nya plu de lay dan luh free-go

Very roughly, of course.

But when plus means more, the pronunciation can change depending on the context. That is one reason learners often find this word tricky.

A natural pronunciation is roughly:

eel nya plu duh lay dahn luh free-go

A few useful points:

• Il n’y a is said very smoothly, almost like one chunk: eel nya
• plus is usually plu
• de lait sounds like duh lay
• dans le often flows together smoothly
• frigo has stress like normal French, which is much flatter than English stress patterns

A more French-like rhythm would be:

Il n’y a plus de lait dans le frigo.

Try saying it in three chunks:

• Il n’y a plus
• de lait
• dans le frigo

In everyday spoken French, people often drop ne in many negative sentences. So you may hear:

• Y a plus de lait dans le frigo.

This is very common in speech.

However, for learners, it is best to know and understand the full standard form:

• Il n’y a plus de lait dans le frigo.

Be careful: if you only see il y a plus de lait, it could also be understood as there is more milk, depending on context. So the full written form is much clearer.

These are different sentences.

• Il n’y a plus de lait = There is no more milk.
• Il n’a plus de lait = He no longer has milk.

The first uses il y a = there is. The second uses il a = he has.

That little y makes a big difference.

Yes. Il ne reste plus de lait is another very natural way to say the same basic idea.

It means something like:

• There is no milk left
• No milk remains

Compare:

• Il n’y a plus de lait.
• Il ne reste plus de lait.

Both are common. The second one emphasizes that none is left.

Because ne becomes n’ before a vowel or mute h.

Since y in il y a begins with a vowel sound, French contracts it:

• ne y a → n’y a

This is the same idea as:

• je aime → j’aime
• ne est pas → n’est pas

So the apostrophe is just standard French spelling to show that a vowel has been dropped.

Lait means milk, and here it is being used as an uncountable noun, just like in English.

So French normally uses the singular:

• du lait = some milk
• de lait = any/no more milk in a negative structure

You would not normally use the plural laits unless you were talking about different kinds of milk in a special context, such as:

• les laits végétaux = plant milks

But in this everyday sentence, singular lait is exactly right.