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Il y a
Il y a means "there is" or "there are": il y a states that something exists or is present. After a past event, put a length of time after it and it means "ago":
Il y a du monde sur la place.
Nous sommes arrivés il y a deux heures.
English switches between "there is" and "there are"; French uses one frozen phrase for both, whatever follows it.
In short
- Il y a = "there is / there are", always invariable: il y a un chat, il y a des chats.
- Negative: il n’y a pas de + noun — the article un / une / du / des disappears.
- After a past event, il y a + a length of time = "ago": elle a téléphoné il y a une heure.
il y a (there is / there are)il y a + time (ago)negationde after pas· hover a highlighted word for its label
One frozen phrase for "there is" and "there are"
Il y a is built from il + y ("there", the same pronoun covered under y and en) + a, the il form of avoir — literally "it has there". Because the il refers to nothing in particular, the phrase never changes: singular or plural after it, still il y a.
Only avoir moves when you change tense: il y avait = "there was / there were" (imparfait), il y aura = "there will be" (futur simple).
There’s a pharmacy on the corner of the street.
— Il y a states that something exists.
There are thirty students in the class.
— Same Il y a before a plural — the phrase never changes.
Negative and questions
The negative wraps ne … pas around y a, and the article after it collapses to de — the normal article rule of negation.
For questions, all the usual patterns of asking questions apply: intonation (Il y a un souci ?), est-ce que, or the formal inversion y a-t-il — the -t- is only there for pronunciation. One combination is a fixed phrase worth learning whole: Qu’est-ce qu’il y a ? means "what’s wrong?" as often as "what is there?".
There’s no wifi in this café.
— The negation n’y a pas turns du, des and un into de.
Is there a table free near the window?
— Everyday spoken question with est-ce que; formally you would invert to y a-t-il.
What’s wrong? You look worried.
— A fixed phrase — French asks "what is there?" where English asks "what’s wrong?".
Il y a + time: how French says "ago"
After a verb in a past tense, il y a + a length of time pins the event to a past moment — English "ago", except that il y a comes before the duration instead of after it. If the situation still continues now, French uses depuis instead; that boundary — and the ongoing pattern il y a trois ans que j’habite ici — is drawn on depuis vs pendant vs pour.
The film started twenty minutes ago.
— il y a + a length of time places the event in the past.
Common mistakes
✗Il y sont beaucoup de touristes en été.
✓Il y a beaucoup de touristes en été.
Il y a is frozen: the verb is always avoir in the il form, even when a plural follows.
✗Il n’y a pas des taxis à cette heure.
✓Il n’y a pas de taxis à cette heure.
After pas, the articles un, une and des all reduce to de: il n’y a pas de taxis.
✗Il y a-t-il un distributeur près d’ici ?
✓Y a-t-il un distributeur près d’ici ?
In the inverted question, il moves behind the verb — y a-t-il — so it must not also appear in front.
Frequently asked questions
What does il y a mean in French?
Il y a means "there is" or "there are": il y a un café sur la place, il y a des nuages. Followed by a length of time after a past event, it means "ago": il a neigé il y a deux jours.
Is il y a singular or plural?
Neither — it is invariable. French uses the same il y a whether one thing or many follow: il y a une chaise, il y a dix chaises. Never il y sont.
How do you say "ago" in French?
With il y a plus a length of time, after a past-tense verb: nous avons déménagé il y a cinq ans ("we moved five years ago"). Unlike English "ago", il y a comes before the duration.
What does "Qu’est-ce qu’il y a ?" mean?
Literally "what is there?", it is the everyday way to ask "what’s wrong?" or "what’s the matter?": Qu’est-ce qu’il y a ? Tu ne dis rien.
Memory tip
One phrase, two jobs: pointing at the world (il y a = there is / there are) or pointing back in time (il y a = ago). After a past event, il y a + a length of time means "ago": elle a appelé il y a une heure.
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