French has eight subject pronouns where English has seven, and mapping them correctly is the first real hurdle: je (I), tu (you, informal singular), il (he/it, masculine), elle (she/it, feminine), on (one/we/people, informal), nous (we), vous (you, formal or plural), ils (they, masculine or mixed group), elles (they, all-feminine group). Two things trip up English speakers immediately. First, il and elle are used not just for people but for objects and ideas too, because every French noun has a grammatical gender — 'le livre' (the book) is 'il', 'la table' (the table) is 'elle'. Second, for a group made of any mix of masculine and feminine (even 99 women and 1 man), French defaults to the masculine plural 'ils'. This is a grammatical convention, not a statement about the group.
Avoir ('to have') is, like être, a highly irregular verb that must be memorized as a full set: j'ai, tu as, il/elle/on a, nous avons, vous avez, ils/elles ont. Note the elision: je becomes j' before a vowel sound (j'ai, not 'je ai'). This elision rule is not optional stylistic choice — it is required whenever je (and several other short words like le, la, ce, ne) precedes a word starting with a vowel or a mute h.
Avoir is used far more broadly in French than 'to have' is in English. Many expressions that use 'to be' in English use avoir in French — famously, age ('J'ai vingt ans' = literally 'I have twenty years' = 'I am twenty years old'), and also sensations like hunger, thirst, fear, and being hot or cold (avoir faim, avoir soif, avoir peur, avoir chaud, avoir froid). English speakers who translate word-for-word will say 'Je suis vingt ans' or 'Je suis faim', which are both wrong — you must reach for avoir instead of être in these fixed expressions.
Exemples
J'ai un frère et une sœur.
I have a brother and a sister.
'Je' elides to "j'" before the vowel sound of 'ai'.
Tu as quel âge ?
How old are you?
Literally 'you have what age' — avoir, not être, expresses age.
Il a les yeux bleus.
He has blue eyes.
Elle a une grande famille.
She has a big family.
Nous avons trois enfants.
We have three children.
Vous avez des animaux ?
Do you have any pets?
Ils ont un chien et un chat.
They have a dog and a cat.
Mixed or all-masculine group of nouns → 'ils'.
Elles ont rendez-vous à midi.
They (all female) have an appointment at noon.
J'ai faim et j'ai soif.
I'm hungry and I'm thirsty.
Literally 'I have hunger and I have thirst' — avoir expresses physical states, not être.
On a de la chance !
We're lucky! / One is lucky!
'On' takes the same verb form as il/elle: 'a', not 'ai' or 'avons'.
Erreurs fréquentes
- Saying 'Je suis vingt ans' or 'Je suis faim' by translating English 'to be' word-for-word instead of using avoir for age and physical sensations.
- Forgetting the elision and writing/saying 'je ai' instead of "j'ai".
- Using 'ils' vs 'elles' based on which gender feels more numerous or important in a group, rather than the rule that any mixed-gender group defaults to 'ils'.
- Conjugating 'on' with the wrong ending (e.g. 'on avons') instead of treating it as a third-person-singular pronoun that always takes the il/elle verb form ('on a').
- Applying 'il/elle' only to people and using 'it' as a mental placeholder for objects, then getting stuck because French has no separate word for 'it'.
Pourquoi ça trompe les anglophones
- English has no grammatical gender for objects, so the idea that 'the table' is inherently 'elle' feels arbitrary and has no equivalent instinct to draw on.
- English uses 'to be' for age and physical sensations ('I am hungry', 'I am 20'), so reaching for 'to have' in French requires overriding a deeply automatic English pattern.
- English 'they' is gender-neutral for groups, so French forcing a masculine default ('ils') for mixed groups feels unfamiliar and easy to get backwards.