Il y a - French Pronunciation and Meaning

Il y a - French Pronunciation and Meaning Expression: Il y aPronunciation: [ee lya]Meaning: there is, there areLiteral translation: it has thereRegister: normal How to Use Il y a in French Notes: The French expression il y a, which can mean there is or there are, is one of the most important expressions in the French language. It is most commonly followed by an indefinite article noun, a number noun, or an indefinite pronoun. Il y a un chaton dans cette tasse.Theres a kitten in this cup.Il y a des enfants l-bas.There are some kids over there.Il y a deux choses faire.There are two things to do.Il y a quelquun la porte.Theres someone at the door.Il y a may be followed by a period of time to mean ago (not to be confused with depuis):Jai vu le film il y a trois semaines.I saw the movie three weeks ago.Il y a 2 ans que nous sommes partis.We left two years ago.To ask a question with il y a, you can either use est-ce que or inversion.Est-ce quil y a un chaton ?Is there a kitten?Est-ce quil y a des enfants ?Are there any kids ?For inversion, place y first, then invert il and a and place -t- between them (why?):Y a-t-il un chaton ?Is there a kitten?Y a-t-il des enfants ?Are there any kids? Il y a can also be used with interrogative words: Pourquoi est-ce quil y a un chat dans mon lit  ?Why is there a cat in my bed?Combien denfants y a-t-il ?How many kids are there?Quest-ce quil y a  ? and Quy a-t-il  ?  mean Whats wrong? Note:  The only correct inversion spelling is y a-t-il, with exactly two hyphens and no apostrophes. Please avoid y-a-t-il, y-a-til , y a-til , y a-til, y a til, etc. To use il y a in a negative construction, place n (why not ne?) in front of y and pas after a. Remember that the indefinite article must change to de due to the negative construction: Il ny a pas de chaton dans cette tasse.There is no kitten in that cup.Il ny a pas denfants l-bas.There arent any kids over there. Il y a is made up of three words1) il - the subject it2) y - the adverbial pronoun there3) a - the third person singular present tense of avoir - to have To use il y a in another tense, simply conjugate avoir into that tense:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Il y avait un chaton...There was a kitten...Il y aura des chatons...There will be some kittens...Il ny a pas eu de chaton...There was no kitten...