100% GOOD (12 votes)AnsweredLanguage Question I'm really confused on how to say I had in French. I thought j'ai eu, meant I have had. So that left me with the only option j'avais. Now I'm confused. Could someone explain me the difference between thesetwo?
- Nari_
December 2015
 | Pat747March 2018 J'ai eu --> action qui a eu lieu une fois, ou action brève. J'avais --> action (ou situation) qui a duré dans le temps ou était habituelle, qui est désormais terminée. Exemple : J'avais 20 ans quand j'ai eu ma première voiture. Exemple : J'ai eu un accident de voiture quand j'avais mon appartement à Paris. |
- 96% GOOD (68 votes)
 | Daniel67frDecember 2015 "J'ai eu" is for something that happened only once, or something suddenly While "J'avais" is something that last, or an habit that is finished |
- 90% GOOD (49 votes)
atoufaMay 2018 J'a eu
 | dariiaNovember 2017 It is complicated indeed. French speakers have the same problem in the other way!
It's all about the duration : you can imagine the past time as a long line. On this line, sometimes events happen ; or you do some actions ; you hear something ; etc.
On the line : - let's say there is always a "general context" : you were someone / you had some occupation / you went around with someone... somewhere in the past (for instance : two years ago and for some period) : that was the general context of your life then -> IMPARFAIT (j'avais) - but there also appear some specific and momentary events on the line. Some which will be marked as crosses or so... For instance : you won a contest (at a specific date) ; you succeedeed in your exams (a specific year) ; you had an accident ; you met someone (specific time and place...) -> PASSÉ COMPOSÉ (j'ai eu)
* * En 2013, je n'avais encore que deux enfants. J'ai eu mon troisième enfant en 2014. (Mon troisième enfant est né en 2014.) J'ai trois enfants. ** En 2012, j'étais étudiante. J'ai obtenu mon diplôme au mois de juin 2012.
Here you can make the comparison present perfect / passé composé but be careful.. because it's rare!! I mean that you can say : "J'ai étudié l'histoire." (this applies that this experience belongs to the being you are right now... quite like present perfect so) But this sentence is also correct : "J'étudiais l'histoire [cette année-là]"... (you just talk about you past occupation... as a past one)
Attention : all of this is the same when you talk about a very close past. It should be no problem if you keep in mind the same image of a regular line where specific events appear... -> Hier, j'étais au restaurant quand tu m'as téléphoné. Ce matin, j'étais encore au lit quand le facteur a sonné.
It's never about the length between the event and now ; always about the nature of the activity ---or sometimes about what we want to tell about it (do I want to say that I used to study something some years ago ; or that I have studied something and then I know things about it now...)---. Il y a une heure, j'étais au travail. Il y a une heure, je me suis endormi au travail. -> "Il y a une heure" doesn't matter itself.
**** I hope this will help!! **** |
- 88% GOOD (49 votes)
vincentMay 2020 Many thanks
 | rachel_larAugust 2017 j'ai enfin eu une bonne note à mon examen hier. j'avais souvent de bonnes notes dans le passé. Mais cette année c'est difficile. |
- 75% GOOD (8 votes)
| March 2018 J'ai eu : passé composé du verbe avoir. (Une action au passé, précise et achevée :J'ai eu mon permis de conduire ) J'avais: imparfait du verbe avoir.(une action en progression dans le passé :J'avais faim ). Un exemple clair serait: " J'avais encore la maison en France quand j'ai eu ma fille ". Bonne chance ! |
- 50% GOOD (6 votes)
 | AzizaelouadghiriJuly 2019 j'ai eu c'est le verbe avoir au passé composé et j'avais aussi le verbe avoir a l'imparfait |
- 20% GOOD (5 votes)