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'There was' in French

I don't understand how to say 'there was' in French. Is this the preterite tense or the imperfect tense? I can understand that c'etait means it was, and j'etait means I was, but the rest confuses me :smile:

Thanks.

Reply 1

kellywood_5

17

'There was' or 'there were' in French is 'il y avait' or 'il y avaient.' Don't scare me- I'm doing A2 and I've never heard of a preterite tense before! It's the imperfect.

Edit: I have no idea why I thought 'il y avaient' existed, I've never even used it.....I blame the fact that it's Thursday night and my mind has gone into meltdown after excess coursework!

Reply 2

eleri

5

Well it really varies, depending on which past tense is appropriate in the context. "Il y avait" would normally be right, but in some circumstances it might be "il y a eu".

Reply 3

Cunning Linguist

3

I take it you're studying Spanish too brimstone? That's why you mentioned the preterite tense. lol In French, we don't have the preterite. (same in German). "I have played", "i did play" and "I played" are all the same in French. i think in Spanish there's a way of distinguishing between "I have played" and "I played" - hence the preterite.
I don't study Spanish, but i think that's what it is.

as for "there was/there were" - it is always "il y avait". i don't think "il y avaient" exists.

e.g. "There was one boy" - "Il y avait un garçon"
"There were two boys" - "Il y avait deux garçons"

and like eleri said, you may sometimes need to use "il y a eu" - but thats quite rare

Reply 4

eleri

5

linguist786

as for "there was/there were" - it is always "il y avait". i don't think "il y avaient" exists.

I don't think it does either; "il y a" and its different tense forms are a set phrase really. And if "il y avaient" was possible it would have to be "ils".

Reply 5

SamTheMan

17

French is not like English where you say there was/were(if plural)

It's always 'Il y avait'

Il y avait trois animaux = There were three animals

Il y avait un chat = There was a cat

Reply 6

Cunning Linguist

3

eleri

I don't think it does either; "il y a" and its different tense forms are a set phrase really. And if "il y avaient" was possible it would have to be "ils".

ye, it definitely doesn't exist, 'cause if you think about it, you wouldn't say in the present tense "ils y ont" (for "there are")

like you say, it's a set phrase.

Reply 7

Dez

20

Il y a -- present. Il y a six réponses lá
Il y a eu -- perfect. Il y a eu un fête
Il y avait -- imperfect. Il y avait un cinéma avant je l'a détruit
Il y avait eu -- pluperfect. I can't think where this would come up in this context.

Reply 8

Cunning Linguist

3

Dez

Il y a -- present. Il y a six réponses lá
Il y a eu -- perfect. Il y a eu un fête
Il y avait -- imperfect. Il y avait un cinéma avant je l'a détruit
Il y avait eu -- pluperfect. I can't think where this would come up in this context.

example of "il y avait eu" (the headline) - http://www.humanite.presse.fr/journal/2004-10-23/2004-10-23-448417

seeing as you're getting all the tenses of "il y a" together, i might as well add to it lol

other tenses:

il y aura - future
il va y avoir - (near) future
il y aurait - conditional
il y aurait eu - conditional perfect
il y aura eu - future perfect

Reply 9

Dystopia

10

In French, isn't the Preterite effectively equivalent to the Past Historic (except that obviously it's very rarely used)?

Reply 10

Cougar

Just one thing I noticed, it's j'etais (with accent), not j'etait.

Having said that, there is a substantial result for "j'etait" on google, so maybe it's something I've not come across.

Reply 11

Cunning Linguist

3

Dystopia

In French, isn't the Preterite effectively equivalent to the Past Historic (except that obviously it's very rarely used)?

yes, but it's definitely not the same as the preterite in Spanish (usage-wise)

correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't the preterite in Spanish used to say something like "i played"? if so, then in French we use the same as what we'd use for "i have played".

i don't think it's 'right' to compare the past historic with the preterite. they're just not the 'same thing'.

Reply 12

Cunning Linguist

3

Cougar

Just one thing I noticed, it's j'etais (with accent), not j'etait.

Having said that, there is a substantial result for "j'etait" on google, so maybe it's something I've not come across.

when you type "j'était" in google, you don't really 'get' anything (e.g. a proper article, or a news item) You just get links to forum websites and stuff, which someone could easily have made a typo. even the first one (about a book on Amazon), if you click on the picture of the book, it says "j'étais", which shows that "j'était" is a mistake.

Reply 13

Cougar

That's what I thought, but if it had been something that did exist, I would have been hung by all the other linguists!

Reply 14

leannemarie

11

linguist786

yes, but it's definitely not the same as the preterite in Spanish (usage-wise)

correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't the preterite in Spanish used to say something like "i played"? if so, then in French we use the same as what we'd use for "i have played".

i don't think it's 'right' to compare the past historic with the preterite. they're just not the 'same thing'.

I won't correct you, because you are right! The preterite is used in Spanish ALL the time whereas nothing really exists in French to convey the same idea - you would have to use the perfect in French. The past historic isn't a spoken tense whereas the preterite is always used in Spanish. That's what I think anyway, but I'm not that great at Spanish so someone may well correct me!

Reply 15

brimstone

OP

7

Yes, I do study Spanish, and we just learned the preterite the other day, so I'm getting a little bit confused! Thanks for all the help guys!

'There was' in French

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