How do you say had in French?

Answer 1

Had can not be so easily translated literaly.

It is in french the "imparfait" tense (preterit) for the verbe avoir.

I had - j'avais

You had - tu avais

He (or she) had - il (or elle) avait

We had - nous avions

You had -vous aviez

They had - ils avaient

The best is to give a sentence or a context.

Answer 2

The French verb meaning "to have" is avoir. The verb must be conjugated correctly, since French verbs change in form according to tense and the subject of the action.

There are several different ways of expressing past time in French, just like there are in English. To translate "had" into French, you have to make sure that you have the correct tense, and the correctly conjugated form of the verb. French and English tenses are not identical.

For example, to talk about a state of affairs in the past that continued for a period, use the imperfect tense - "I used to have" or "I had (over an extended period)".

To say "I had" in imperfect tense: j'avais

"you had" (one person, informal, imperfect tense): tu avais

"he/she/it had" (imperfect tense): il/elle avait

"we had" (imperfect tense): nous avions

"you had (plural, or to one person who you don't know well, imperfect tense): vous aviez

"they had" (imperfect tense)" ils/elles avaient

This is the tense that in most circumstances corresponds to the English past tense "had". But in some cases, you may need to use the past perfect, which means "I had once".

I had (perfect): j'ai eu

you had (perfect, to one person, informal): tu as eu

he/she/it had (perfect): il a eu

we had (prefect): nous avons eu

you had (perfect, more than one, or to one person who you don't know well): vous avez eu

they had (perfect): ils/elles ont eu.

a eu

Answer 3

ils ont, elles ont