Conjugate avoir (+ avoir) in Le Passé Composé (conversational past) : French language revision

Look at these sentences:

J'ai eu trois cadeaux pour mon anniversaire.
I had three presents for my birthday.

As-tu eu mon message?
Did you have my message?

Nous avons tous eu la varicelle.
We all had chickenpox.

In Le Passé Composé (conversational past), the verb "avoir" (to have) has an irregular past participle: "eu", and works with 'avoir' as an auxiliary:

j'ai eu	I had/have had
tu as eu	you had/have had (singular-familiar form)
il/elle/on a eu	he/she/we/one/people had/has had

nous avons eu	we had/have had
vous avez eu	you had/have had
ils/elles *ont eu*	They had/have had

Learn more about these related French grammar topics

Examples and resources

As-tu eu mon message?
Did you have my message?

Cette même année, elle a eu des jumeaux.
That same year, she had twins.

J'ai eu trois cadeaux pour mon anniversaire.
I had three presents for my birthday.

Hier, j'ai eu des invités.
Yesterday, I had guests.

Nous avons eu la varicelle en même temps.
We had chicken pox at the same time.

Nous avons tous eu la varicelle.
We all had chickenpox.

Vous avez eu beaucoup de chance ce jour-là.
You have been very lucky that day.

Q&A

Walter

Kwiziq community member

29 November 2018

1 reply

with all due respect ...

"You have been very lucky that day", "Did you have my message?", and "I had three presents for my birthday", are literal translations from the French - they are NOT English. "You were very lucky that day", "Did you get (receive) my message?", and "I got (received) three presents for my birthday", would be correct English versions of those sentences. This might be of concern to non-native English speakers who are using this program to learn French. It seems to me that it would be best to learn to use BOTH languages correctly.

Roman

Kwiziq community member

30 November 2018

30/11/18

I strongly support

Chris

Kwiziq community member

27 March 2018

27/03/18

Yes, in English you would translate both -- "avais" and "ai eu" -- with "had". However, if you want to form the plus-que-parfait you need to follow its rules and regulations. One of which is that it is formed using "avoir" or "être" in their imparfait form, followed by the past participle. You can never form the plus-que-parfait with "avoir + eu + past parciciple".

Quand tu m'as appelé, je l'avais déjà prévu. -- When you called me, I had it already planned. (Plus-que-parfait)
J'ai eu un coup de faiblesse. -- I had an attack of weakness. (Passé composé)
J'avais eu un coup de faiblesse. -- I had had an attack of weakness. (Plus-que-parfait)
J'avais un coup de faiblesse. -- I had an attack of weakness. (Imparfait, carrying the connotation that this happened repeatedly over a period of time).

I hope this helps, -- Chris (not a native speaker).

Aurélie

Kwiziq language super star

27 March 2018

27/03/18

Bonjour !

To complete Chris' answer, here are links to our related glossary lessons on Plus-que-Parfait, Passé Composé and Imparfait :)

I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !

s

Kwiziq community member

27 March 2018

27/03/18

Thank you Chris and Aurelie.

Trying not to get lost :)

Ron

Kwiziq community member

27 September 2017

27/09/17

Bonjour Donald, Je pense que vous ayez donné une très bonne question. D'abord cela me paraît comme une coutume. Soit un pays avec la coutume d'utiliser «avoir les invités» soit un autre pays qui utilise «recevoir les invités». En ce qui concerne mon avis, les deux sont corrects. J'ai dit les deux. J'ai remarqué que dans la leçon, il y a l'exemple suivant: «Hier, j'ai eu des invités. ---> Yesterday, I had guests.» Alors, j'imagine qu'en Angleterre le verbe «avoir» est utilisé. Peut-être quelqu'un(e) de l'équippe à kwiziq pourrait nous donner une meilleure explication. Bonne journée

Cécile

Kwiziq language super star

22 October 2018

22/10/18

Hi Donald,

You are correct , you cannot use the verb 'avoir' for 'to have guests',

'recevoir' in the context of friends, family, guests means to have people in your home. e.g.

J'aime recevoir des amis chez moi le weekend = I enjoy having friends at home at the weekend

Nous allons recevoir des amis étrangers pour le jumelage le weekendprochain = We are going to have foreign visitors for the twinning next weekend

Hope this helps!

Laura

Kwiziq language super star

3 August 2016

3/08/16

Bonjour Blessing, I'm not sure what you're asking - do you mean in French or English?

Aurélie

Kwiziq language super star

8 August 2016

8/08/16

Bonjour Blessing ! If you wanted to ask someone "Did you get my message?" in French, you could use the following forms: "As-tu eu mon message ? / Avez-vous eu mon message ?" "Est-ce que tu as/vous avez eu mon message ?" "Tu as/Vous avez eu mon message ?" You can also use "recevoir" (to receive), as such: "As-tu reçu mon message ?" etc... I hope that's helpful! À bientôt !