Language/French/Grammar/How-to-use-falloir
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How to use « falloir » in French
[CHANGED]
Definitions
impersonal form
A sentence is in the impersonal form if:
- The subject is the word "il".
- The subject represents nothing and no one.
The indirect object complement
The indirect object complement (French: le complément d'objet indirect, COI) indirectly completes the verb most often through a preposition. The verb used with an COI is an indirect transitive verb.
To find the COI of the verb, it is most enough to ask questions:
- à qui ? à quoi ?
to whom? to what?
- de qui ? de quoi ?
of who? of what?
Falloir
Rule
The French verb “falloir” only exists in its impersonal form.
The verb "falloir" can be followed by:
- a noun,
- an infinitive,
- a clause (with the verb in the subjunctive)
and it can be preceded by a pronoun acting as an indirect object.
Examples
Look at the following examples:
French | Translation |
---|---|
Il faut rester | We must stay |
Il faut du monde | It takes people |
Il nous faut réfléchir | We have to think |
Il faut que nous marchions | We have to walk |
Il aura fallu trois semaines pour que vous vous décidiez | It took three weeks for you to make up your mind |
Il nous faudra revenir dans 2 semaines | We must come back in 2 weeks |
Il faudrait être certain que les cambrioleurs soient sortis de la maison | We should be sure that the burglars are out of the house |
Videos
verb FALLOIR (to be necessary/to need)
French verbs conjugated by Learn French With Alexa
Falloir versus Devoir
2 French verbs with a similar meaning but different constructions: falloir vs devoir in French.