Il y a - Pronunciation and Meaning

• Expression: Il y a
• Pronunciation: [ee lya]
• Meaning: there is, there are
• Literal translation: it has there
• Register: 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.
  There's a kitten in this cup.
• Il y a des enfants là-bas.
  There are some kids over there.
• Il y a deux choses à faire.
  There are two things to do.
• Il y a quelqu'un à la porte.
  There's someone at the door.
• Il y a may be followed by a period of time to mean "ago" (not to be confused with depuis):
• J'ai 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 qu'il y a un chaton ?
  Is there a kitten?
• Est-ce qu'il 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 qu'il y a un chat dans mon lit ?
  Why is there a cat in my bed?
• Combien d'enfants y a-t-il ?
  How many kids are there?
• Qu'est-ce qu'il y a ? and Qu'y a-t-il ? mean "What's 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-t'il , y a-t'il , 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 n'y a pas de chaton dans cette tasse.
  There is no kitten in that cup.
• Il n'y a pas d'enfants là-bas.
  There aren't any kids over there.

Il y a is made up of three words
1) il - the subject "it"
2) y - the adverbial pronoun "there"
3) 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:

•    Il y avait un chaton...
  There was a kitten...
• Il y aura des chatons...
  There will be some kittens...
• Il n'y a pas eu de chaton...
  There was no kitten...