Published September 11, 2012 • Updated May 20, 2026 — By French teacher David Issokson with native audio by Marie Assel Cambier
Avoir envie de — Meaning and Pronunciation
Avoir envie is a French expression that means “to want”, “to feel like”, or “to be in the mood for”. It’s used to talk about desires, cravings, and things you want to do. You’ll see: avoir envie de + noun (J’ai envie d’un café — I want a coffee) and avoir envie de + infinitive (J’ai envie de boire un café — I want to drink a coffee).
IPA pronunciation of avoir envie de is /a.vwaʁ ɑ̃.vi də/ (IPA), which sounds like “ah-vwahr ahn-vee duh”.
Example Sentences
J’ai envie d’un café.
I want a coffee.
J’ai envie de boire un café.
I want to drink a coffee.
Sylvie a envie d’aller à la plage.
Sylvie wants to go to the beach.
Je n’ai pas envie de travailler.
I don’t want to work.
T’as pas envie ?
You don’t feel like it?
🎵 The expression avoir envie appears immediately in the lyrics of Les Champs-Élysées by Joe Dassin: J’avais envie de dire bonjour à n’importe qui (I wanted to say hello to anybody).
💡 Avoir besoin means “to need” and follows the exact same grammatical structure as avoir envie. For example, j’ai besoin d’un café (I need a coffee) and j’ai besoin de boire un café (I need to drink a coffee).
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Related Words and Expressions
If you want to expand your vocabulary or master similar French structures, explore these related terms and lessons:
- Avoir expressions — master list
- donner envie de — to make somebody want to
- une envie — a craving, desire
- avoir besoin de — to need
- avoir hâte de — to look forward to
- vouloir — to want
- désirer — to desire
- avoir la flemme de — to not feel like doing something
🎵 See also: L’envie by Johnny Hallyday — a powerful song built around the idea of desire, motivation, and the will to keep going.
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This is a nice lesson! Intelligently explained! Thanks.