Language/French/Grammar/Impersonal-subject-restricted-to-il

Impersonal subject restricted to il

Some impersonal verbs and verbal expressions always take impersonal subject il (and NOT ce, cela or ça):

Expressions of clock time do:

• Quelle heure est-il? Il est 6 heures

What time is it? It's 6 o'clock

• Il est midi

It's noon As do the related time expressions:

• II est temps de, que ...

It's time to, that ...

• Il est tard

It's late

Certain frequently occurring constructions also take impersonal il:

• Il y a (quelqu'un, deux hommes à la porte)

There is/are (somebody, two men at the door)

I*l est question de (lui interdire l'accès aux enfants) There's talk of (stopping her seeing the children)

• Il s'agit de (refaire les fondations)

It's a question of (rebuilding the foundations)

• Il faut (se lever tôt le matin)

You've got to (get up early in the morning)

• Il reste (des phénomènes qu'il est difficile de catégoriser)

There remain (phenomena which it is difficult to classify)

• Il convient (de faire le point)

If is advisable (to take stock)

• Il vaut mieux (rester chez vous)

It's better (for you to stay at home)

NB: Il s'agit de is a frequently-used impersonal construction which learners often misuse because one way of translating it into English can be as 'X is about Y', e.g. Il s'agit dans ce roman d'une jeune fille 'This novel is about a girl'. Il s'agit de can never have a personal subject, however:

• NOT *Ce roman s'agit d'une jeune fille

By contrast, the verb agir 'to act' must have a personal subject:

• Pierre agit de façon bizarre

Pierre is acting in a strange way

• Il agit en ami

He is acting as a friend (For impersonal verbs see also Chapter 8.8.)

After mastering this lesson, these related pages might interest you: Possessive determiners, Omission of the article, Plural indefinite article "des" VS preposition "de" and definite article "les" & Common quantifiers.

Other Lessons

• Much More Little Less
• Use of en
• Meaning of alors
• Absolute use of the superlative
• "de" when an adjective precedes the noun
• Adverbs ending in —ment derived from words no longer in the language
• Combinations of adjectives
• Position of direct and indirect object pronouns
• “être” and “avoir” with verbs used intransitively and transitively
• Definite and indefinite articles
• Pronominal Verbs
• Comparing neutral ce, cela, ça with personal il ils and elle elles
• Subject verb agreement — Verb agreement with collective noun subjects
• Types of noun
• Infinitives