Avait

Avait is the third-person singular imperfect indicative form of the French verb avoir, meaning to have. It is used to describe past states or habitual actions, or to set the scene in narrative. For example, “Il avait une voiture” (He had a car) describes a past possession, while “Quand nous étions jeunes, il avait souvent l’habitude de…” conveys a repeated past action. The imperfect contrasts with the passé composé, which expresses completed past actions.

Formation and key forms: Av- is the stem for the imperfect with standard endings: -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient. Thus, the conjugation in the present imperfect is: j’avais, tu avais, il avait, nous avions, vous aviez, ils avaient. The verb avoir is irregular overall, but the imperfect uses regular endings on the av- stem. In compound tenses, avoir as an auxiliary verb forms the plus-que-parfait with a past participle (e.g., il avait eu, he had had; il avait dit, he had said).

Usage notes: Avait appears in many common constructions. It can express ongoing states (Il avait faim), past habits (Elle avait toujours peur du noir), and narrative background. It also appears in set phrases such as avait beau faire, meaning “no matter how hard he tried.” As an auxiliary in pluperfect clauses, it helps to indicate earlier past actions relative to another past moment.

Etymology: Avoir derives from Old French aveir, from Latin habēre. The imperfect form av- reflects the typical French imperfect pattern, applied to one of the most irregular verbs in its base meaning.