French Language > Lexicalia, Verbs

Avoir, Faire, et cetera: Verb-Noun Phrases
Combinations That May Trip You Up

While, on the one hand, modern French puts determiners in front of nouns far more often than English does (see the French Language topic Leaving Articles Out), on the other hand it favors a number of set expressions in which the determiner of the noun is glaringly absent. The present file lists important expressions of this sort.

The kind of phrase I mean ¹ has these two characteristics:

1. It is made up of a verb and a “naked” noun, i.e., without an article. In all cases, the noun is (or was originally) a direct object.
2. The whole phrase expresses a single idea. Its English equivalent may well be a solitary verb; sometimes there is even a French one-word equivalent.

The most important verbs for this kind of phrase are, without any doubt, avoir and faire.

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Verb-Noun Phrases with Avoir

• avoir besoin (de) = “to need”
• avoir bonne, mauvaise mine = “to look great-well-good (i.e., healthy); to look awful-terrible (i.e., unhealthy)”
• avoir chaud = “to be hot”
• avoir envie (de) = “to feel like, to have a hankering for”
• avoir faim = “to be hungry”
• avoir froid = “to be cold”
• avoir hâte = “to be in a hurry”
• avoir honte = “to be ashamed”
• avoir lieu = “to take place”
• avoir mal = 1. “to suffer, to be in pain.” 2. “to have trouble (doing something).”
• avoir peur = “to be afraid”
• avoir raison = “to be right”
• avoir soif = “to be thirsty”
• avoir sommeil = “to be sleepy”
• avoir tort = “to be wrong”

Here are two other expressions with avoir that do not quite follow the pattern but are well worth knowing:

• avoir beau + (infinitif) = “to (infinitive) in vain”
• avoir l’air = “to seem”

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Verb-Noun Phrases with Faire

Faire is used in this kind of construction more than any other verb; I give here a very short list, mostly of less-than-obvious uses.

• faire autorité = “to be authoritative, to be the final word (in a matter)”
• faire chaud, faire froid = (hot weather, cold weather)
• faire confiance (à qqn) = “to trust (somebody)”
• faire corps (avec qc) = “to form a unit with”
• faire date = “to mark an important date, be a turning point.” = faire époque
• faire défaut = 1. “to be lacking.” 2. “to default.” 3. “to let down.”
• faire école = “to set a trend; to gain widespread authority or influence”
• faire état (de) = “to report (on)”
• faire face (à) = “to face up to, confront”
• faire foi (de qc) = “to be evidence (of), attest to”
• faire machine arrière = “to reverse” (a vehicle)
• faire montre de = “to display, show”
• faire part (à qqn de qc) = “to inform (someone of something)”
• faire partie de = “to be a member of, to belong to, to be a part of”
• faire preuve (de qc) = “to show, give evidence of having”
• faire semblant (de) = “to pretend” (= faire mine de)
  

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Verb-Noun Phrases with Some Other Verbs

Verb-Noun Phrases with Porter

• porter atteinte (à) = “to do harm (to)”
• porter plainte (contre qqn, à qqn) = “to press charges, lodge a complaint (against someone, to [an authority])”
• se porter candidat = “to run (for an office)”
• se porter garant = “to vouch for”
• se porter volontaire = “to volunteer”

Verb-Noun Phrases with Prendre

• prendre acte (de) = “to take official notice of”
• prendre connaissance (de) = “to become acquainted with, inform oneself about, peruse (a document)”
• prendre conscience (de) = “to become aware (of)”
  • une prise de conscience = “a becoming aware (of something)”
• reprendre connaissance = “to regain consciousness” (= reprendre conscience)

In Context:

The phrase in this case is prendre feu. It plays a prominent, not to say pivotal, rôle in this affecting poem recited by the Maid (shortly before she is done to death by her employers the Smiths) in Ionesco’s landmark anti-drama, La Cantatrice chauve:

Les polycandres brillaient dans les bois Une pierre prit feu Le château prit feu La forêt prit feu Les hommes prirent feu Les femmes prirent feu Les oiseaux prirent feu L’eau prit feu Le ciel prit feu La cendre prit feu La fumée prit feu Le feu prit feu Tout prit feu Prit feu, prit feu

The polycanders were shining in the woods A stone caught fire The château caught fire The forest caught fire The men caught fire The women caught fire The birds caught fire The water caught fire The sky caught fire The ash caught fire The smoke caught fire The fire caught fire Everything caught fire Caught fire, caught fire

To this poem two other characters react; note the locution verbale, donner froid, in what Mme Martin says:

Mme Martin. Ça m’a donné froid dans le dos. M Martin. Il y a pourtant une certaine chaleur dans ces vers.

Mrs Martin. That sent a shiver down my spine. Mr Martin. And yet there is a certain warmth in these lines.

1. For which the French expressions locutions verbales and locutions à verbe support appear too broad. Locutions à verbe support et à article nul? [↩]

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