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# avait — French to English

How French *avait* is translated into English in open, checked parallel texts: 6 translations with example sentences.

The Elamur Dictionary has no French section yet; the English translations below link to their meanings where it has them.

Sentence pairs counted, by form: avait (468 430). By style: everyday 3 839 · literary 1 244 · biblical 1 620 · parliamentary 16 180 · legal and administrative 21 121 · UN documents 424 426.

## had

Used about 247 783 times in the texts (everyday ≈ 1 280 · literary ≈ 829 · biblical ≈ 675 · parliamentary ≈ 6 742 · legal and administrative ≈ 8 360 · UN documents ≈ 229 897).

- Yanni **avait** des moustaches.
  Yanni **had** a moustache.
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by always and Amastan · checked, community translation · [\#10108200](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/10108200) [\#12481967](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/12481967))

- Marius n'**avait** point failli un seul jour.
  Marius **had** not failed for a single day.
  ([Project Gutenberg books (Verne, Hugo, Maupassant and their translators)](https://www.gutenberg.org/) · Project Gutenberg, public domain · checked, professional translation · hugo les miserables, row 14818)

- Il envoya Moïse, son serviteur, Et Aaron, qu’il **avait** choisi.
  He sent Moses, his servant, and Aaron, whom he **had** chosen.
  ([World English Bible and Louis Segond 1910](https://ebible.org/) · World English Bible; Louis Segond 1910; public domain, eBible.org · checked, professional translation · PSA 105:26)

- Elle n'**avait** pas pour ambition d'ajouter son propre programme.
  It **had** no ambition to add its own agenda.
  ([Europarl v8](https://www.statmt.org/europarl/) · Source: European Parliament proceedings, Europarl v8 (Koehn 2005) via OPUS (Tiedemann 2012) · checked, professional translation · segment 1469252)

- Au 25 mars 2013, FFHG **avait** utilisé 100 % (45 millions d'euros) de sa ligne de crédit.
  By 25 March 2013, FFHG **had** used 100 % (EUR 45 million) of its credit line.
  ([DGT-TM v2021](https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/language-technology-resources/dgt-translation-memory_en) · Source: European Commission, DGT-TM (Steinberger et al. 2012), re-used under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU; the Commission keeps ownership of the data · checked, professional translation · segment 3823267)

## was

Used about 100 904 times in the texts (everyday ≈ 960 · biblical ≈ 540 · parliamentary ≈ 4 382 · legal and administrative ≈ 6 600 · UN documents ≈ 88 422).

- Il y **avait** du soleil hier.
  It **was** sunny yesterday.
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by Aiji and CK · checked, community translation · [\#2628663](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/2628663) [\#5419796](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/5419796))

- Et Jésus dit à l’homme qui **avait** la main sèche: Lève-toi, là au milieu.
  He said to the man whose hand **was** withered, “Stand up.”
  ([World English Bible and Louis Segond 1910](https://ebible.org/) · World English Bible; Louis Segond 1910; public domain, eBible.org · checked, professional translation · MAR 3:3)

- En ce temps-là, notre avis **avait** été "oublié".
  Our opinion **was** thus dropped at the time.
  ([Europarl v8](https://www.statmt.org/europarl/) · Source: European Parliament proceedings, Europarl v8 (Koehn 2005) via OPUS (Tiedemann 2012) · checked, professional translation · segment 332421)

- L'Allemagne était donc d'avis qu'il n'y **avait** pas de distorsion de concurrence.
  Therefore, Germany **was** of the opinion that there was no distortion of competition.
  ([DGT-TM v2021](https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/language-technology-resources/dgt-translation-memory_en) · Source: European Commission, DGT-TM (Steinberger et al. 2012), re-used under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU; the Commission keeps ownership of the data · checked, professional translation · segment 3793309)

- Il **avait** été décidé après un vote serré de maintenir le statu quo.
  It **was** decided after a very close vote to keep the present situation.
  ([United Nations Parallel Corpus v1.0](https://conferences.unite.un.org/UNCorpus) · Source: United Nations, United Nations Parallel Corpus v1.0 (Ziemski, Junczys-Dowmunt and Pouliquen 2016) · checked, professional translation · segment 7485518)

## been

Used about 36 226 times in the texts (everyday ≈ 80 · parliamentary ≈ 337 · legal and administrative ≈ 440 · UN documents ≈ 35 369).

- Le sol **avait** beau être glissant, et j’ai beau avoir mauvais équilibre, je ne serais pas tombé si je n’avais pas de parapluie entre les mains.
  The ground might have **been** slippery, and I might have poor balance, but I wouldn’t have fallen if I wasn’t holding an umbrella.
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by zogwarg and zogwarg · checked, community translation · [\#13876449](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/13876449) [\#13876441](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/13876441))

- Je pense que l'approche aurait peut-être été facilitée si l'on **avait** maintenu un traitement plus différencié pour les deux périodes d'application de la directive.
  I believe that the approach would perhaps have **been** facilitated by maintaining a more differentiated treatment for the two periods into which the application of the directive is divided.
  ([Europarl v8](https://www.statmt.org/europarl/) · Source: European Parliament proceedings, Europarl v8 (Koehn 2005) via OPUS (Tiedemann 2012) · checked, professional translation · segment 372371)

- L’économie se rétablit lentement depuis le début de 2010, et à un rythme un peu plus rapide que ce qui **avait** été prévu dans les premiers mois de l’année 2010.
  The economic recovery, which has slowly taken hold since the beginning of 2010, has **been** proceeding at a somewhat faster pace than expected earlier in 2010.
  ([DGT-TM v2021](https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/language-technology-resources/dgt-translation-memory_en) · Source: European Commission, DGT-TM (Steinberger et al. 2012), re-used under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU; the Commission keeps ownership of the data · checked, professional translation · segment 5646901)

- Le nombre de requérants **avait** été faible par le passé mais **avait** tendance à augmenter.
  While the number of applicants has **been** small in the past, there is a tendency to increase.
  ([United Nations Parallel Corpus v1.0](https://conferences.unite.un.org/UNCorpus) · Source: United Nations, United Nations Parallel Corpus v1.0 (Ziemski, Junczys-Dowmunt and Pouliquen 2016) · checked, professional translation · segment 23951272)

- De plus, elle a fait observer que l &apos; Islande **avait** toujours soutenu les efforts des pays en développement.
  Additionally it noted that Iceland has always **been** supportive of the efforts of developing countries.
  ([United Nations Parallel Corpus v1.0](https://conferences.unite.un.org/UNCorpus) · Source: United Nations, United Nations Parallel Corpus v1.0 (Ziemski, Junczys-Dowmunt and Pouliquen 2016) · checked, professional translation · segment 24021910)

## that

Used about 19 898 times in the texts (everyday ≈ 160 · literary ≈ 26 · biblical ≈ 34 · parliamentary ≈ 674 · legal and administrative ≈ 1 320 · UN documents ≈ 17 684). Meaning: [that in the Elamur Dictionary](https://dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/that/).

- Sami n'**avait** pas besoin de cet appartement.
  Sami didn't need **that** apartment.
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by laetitiamg and OsoHombre · checked, community translation · [\#7976583](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/7976583) [\#12540391](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/12540391))

- Maman qui **avait** dit qu'elle nous mènerait chercher du buis bénit le dimanche des rameaux.
  Mamma told us **that** she would take us to get a blessed spray on Palm Sunday.”
  ([Project Gutenberg books (Verne, Hugo, Maupassant and their translators)](https://www.gutenberg.org/) · Project Gutenberg, public domain · checked, professional translation · hugo les miserables, row 20580)

- nous prêchons la sagesse de Dieu, mystérieuse et cachée, que Dieu, avant les siècles, **avait** destinée pour notre gloire,
  But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom **that** has been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds for our glory,
  ([World English Bible and Louis Segond 1910](https://ebible.org/) · World English Bible; Louis Segond 1910; public domain, eBible.org · checked, professional translation · 1CO 2:7)

- L'année dernière, le Parlement européen **avait** exigé que le Turkménistan respecte cinq critères de référence en matière de droits de l'homme avant d'entériner un tel accord.
  The European Parliament last year demanded **that** Turkmenistan must reach five human rights benchmarks before it would give its assent to this Agreement.
  ([Europarl v8](https://www.statmt.org/europarl/) · Source: European Parliament proceedings, Europarl v8 (Koehn 2005) via OPUS (Tiedemann 2012) · checked, professional translation · segment 1251692)

- Initialement, la France **avait** indiqué à la Commission que les trois filiales étaient en redressement judiciaire au moment de la reprise.
  Initially, France indicated to the Commission **that** the three subsidiaries were under judicial reorganisation at the time of the takeover.
  ([DGT-TM v2021](https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/language-technology-resources/dgt-translation-memory_en) · Source: European Commission, DGT-TM (Steinberger et al. 2012), re-used under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU; the Commission keeps ownership of the data · checked, professional translation · segment 532413)

## he

Used about 1 717 times in the texts (everyday ≈ 400 · literary ≈ 104 · biblical ≈ 203 · parliamentary ≈ 1 011). Meaning: [he in the Elamur Dictionary](https://dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/he/).

- Qui **avait**-il en tête ?
  Whom did **he** have in mind?
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by Equilingual and Eldad · checked, community translation · [\#3768956](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/3768956) [\#9038542](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/9038542))

- Il y **avait** un morceau plus petit que les deux autres; il le prit pour lui.
  One piece was smaller than the others; **he** kept this for himself.
  ([Project Gutenberg books (Verne, Hugo, Maupassant and their translators)](https://www.gutenberg.org/) · Project Gutenberg, public domain · checked, professional translation · hugo les miserables, row 20614)

- Et l’Éternel se repentit du mal qu’il **avait** déclaré vouloir faire à son peuple.
  So the LORD turned away from the evil which **he** said he would do to his people.
  ([World English Bible and Louis Segond 1910](https://ebible.org/) · World English Bible; Louis Segond 1910; public domain, eBible.org · checked, professional translation · EXO 32:14)

- M. Prodi **avait** promis tout autre chose lors de son entrée en fonction il y a trois ans.
  Mr Prodi publicly promised something quite different when **he** took office three years ago.
  ([Europarl v8](https://www.statmt.org/europarl/) · Source: European Parliament proceedings, Europarl v8 (Koehn 2005) via OPUS (Tiedemann 2012) · checked, professional translation · segment 468867)

- Il n'**avait** pas assez d'argent.
  **He** did not have enough money.
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by sacredceltic and CK · checked, community translation · [\#284904](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/284904) [\#130117](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/130117))

## there

Used about 1 115 times in the texts (everyday ≈ 400 · literary ≈ 207 · biblical ≈ 68 · legal and administrative ≈ 440). Meaning: [there in the Elamur Dictionary](https://dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/there/).

- Il y **avait** un magasin ici autrefois.
  **There** used to be a store right here.
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by Scott and CK · checked, community translation · [\#28358](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/28358) [\#1498395](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/1498395))

- Il n'y **avait** que quatre uniformes.
  **There** were only four uniforms.
  ([Project Gutenberg books (Verne, Hugo, Maupassant and their translators)](https://www.gutenberg.org/) · Project Gutenberg, public domain · checked, professional translation · hugo les miserables, row 25722)

- Comme ils étaient en chemin, le bruit parvint à David qu’Absalom **avait** tué tous les fils du roi, et qu’il n’en était pas resté un seul.
  While they were on the way, the news came to David, saying, “Absalom has slain all the king’s sons, and **there** is not one of them left!”
  ([World English Bible and Louis Segond 1910](https://ebible.org/) · World English Bible; Louis Segond 1910; public domain, eBible.org · checked, professional translation · 2SA 13:30)

- Toutes les parties intéressées qui l’ont demandé et ont indiqué qu’il y **avait** des raisons particulières de les entendre ont été entendues.
  All interested parties who so requested and showed that **there** were particular reasons why they should be heard, were granted a hearing.
  ([DGT-TM v2021](https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/language-technology-resources/dgt-translation-memory_en) · Source: European Commission, DGT-TM (Steinberger et al. 2012), re-used under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU; the Commission keeps ownership of the data · checked, professional translation · segment 1567937)

- Il n'y **avait** aucun livre sur le bureau.
  **There** wasn't any book on the desk.
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by jrjd\_fr and mccarras · checked, community translation · [\#20575](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/20575) [\#2290880](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/2290880))

## More sentences

Sentence pairs with the word where no single translation was found: it may be translated by a phrase, or left out.

- Tom n'**avait** pas beaucoup à dire.
  Tom didn't have a lot to say.
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by franlexcois and CK · checked, community translation · [\#4665475](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/4665475) [\#4962144](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/4962144))

- Combien de personnes y **avait**-il dans l'avion ?
  How many were on the plane?
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by Aiji and CK · checked, community translation · [\#2912551](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/2912551) [\#4878628](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/4878628))

- Personne n'**avait** confiance en mon pays.
  Nobody trusted my country.
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by Micsmithel and Amastan · checked, community translation · [\#1796924](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/1796924) [\#7074169](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/7074169))

## Grammar

Notes on grammar and translation on Mova: [French grammar](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/fr/) · [English grammar](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/en/) · [translating between English and French](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/translation/pairs/en-fr/) · [translating from French](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/translation/from-fr/) · [translating into English](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/translation/into-en/).

## About these examples

Translations are found by how often the two words stand in the same sentence pairs, and the highlighted words are matched automatically: both are approximate. Counts are estimated from a sample of each source. Every example names its source and licence. [Submit a better translation or example](https://md.translate.elamur.ai/free/en/submit/?pair=fr-en&word=avait).


Every example is quoted under its source's licence and credited with it; the rest of the site is open under the Elamur Cosmic License.