Il y a (There is)

Salut!

Nice to see you again in my French Blog.  Today we are going to study another idiomatic expression.  It’s “Il y a”

In English, we often use phrases like ''there is" and ''there are" to refer to the general existence of things. In French, this is done with the phrase “Il y a”.

The French word y is an object pronoun. In this construction, it is the rough equivalent of the English ''there." Even when il y a is used with a plural or feminine object, the subject and verb don't change. This is a French idiomatic expression

that does not translate literally./

IL Y A UN BON FILM AU CINEMA.

(THERE IS A GOOD FILM AT THE THEATRE.)

IL Y A UNE GRANDE VEDETTE EN VILLE.

(THERE IS A BIG STAR IN TOWN.)

You can also use the construction “Il y a” as a question to ask if something exists as we do in English with Is there/ Are there.

You could use the phrase est-ce que in front of it to form the question, or you can use inversion. When inversion is used, however, the pronoun retains its regular position in front of the verb, so you must insert a t in between.

Y A-T-IL UN BON FILM ICI?

(IS THERE A GOOD FILM HERE?)

Y A-T-IL UNE FEMME ICI?

(IS THERE A LADY PRESENT?)

Et Voilà, c’est tout pour aujourd’hui.

I hope you have enjoyed with your new French lesson.

See you soon.

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