N'avions (en. Didn't have)

/n‿aviɔ̃/

Meaning & Definition

EnglishFrench

verb

Indicates the absence of possession in the past for the subject 'we'.

We did not have a car at that time.

Nous n'avions pas de voiture à l'époque.

Expresses a situation that did not occur in the past.

If we had not moved, we would not have met new people.

Si nous n'avions pas déménagé, nous n'aurions pas rencontré de nouvelles personnes.

Used to introduce an unrealized condition in the past.

We had no money, which is why we could not go on vacation.

Nous n'avions pas d'argent, c'est pourquoi nous n'avons pas pu partir en vacances.

Contraction of 'nous avions', originating from the verb 'avoir' in French.

We did not foresee that!

We did not anticipate this situation.

On n'avait pas prévu ça !

If we had not been lucky...

We would not have succeeded without luck.

Si nous n’avions pas eu de chance...

At that time, we had nothing.

We had no resources at that time.

À l'époque, nous n'avions rien.

plane

A vehicle capable of moving in the air.

avion

to have

Verb meaning to possess or obtain.

avoir

had

Third person singular of 'to have' in the past.

avait

Bad luck

Forget it, we really had bad luck tonight.

Laisse tomber, on n'avions vraiment pas de bol ce soir.

It was a bummer

We did not pass the exam, it was a bummer.

Nous n'avions pas réussi à l'examen, c'était la loose.