Language/French/Grammar/How-to-use-falloir
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How to use « falloir » in French
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 du temps | Time is needed |
Il faut partir | It is time to leave |
Il faut que nous partions | We must leave |
Il nous faut partir | We must leave |
Il nous faudra revenir dans trois semaines | We must come back in three weeks |
Il a fallu trois mois pour que nous nous décidions | It took us three months to make up our minds |
Il faudrait être certain que cela soit la bonne décision | We need to be sure that this is the right decision |