falloir
French
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Inherited from Old French faloir, from an earlier falleir, from a changing of Old French faillir after its third person singular, faut, earlier falt (from Latin fallit), based off the model of valoir. Faillir derives in turn from Vulgar Latin *fallīre, from Latin fallere, fallō. Compare Franco-Provençal falêr from a similar development in Old Franco-Provençal.
Pronunciation
[edit]Verb
[edit]falloir (defective)
- (impersonal) to need, have to, to be necessary (that)
- Il faut que j’y aille
- I need to go.
- Faut que j’y aille.
- Got to go.
- Il ne faut pas que tu dises ça.
- You don’t have to say that.
- Il a tout ce qu’il te faut.
- He has everything that you need.
- 2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Altas, Sceptre:
- Et si vous nuisez à ma réputation, eh bien, il faudra que je ruine la vôtre.
- And if you ruin my reputation, well, I'll have to ruin yours.
- to take (time)
- Synonym: (informal) prendre
- 2020, Vincent Furnelle, Le paysage et son double, page 23:
- Il leur a fallu des années pour obtenir le permis de bâtir, des années encore pour faire les travaux, qui sont encore en cours.
- It took them years to obtain the building permit, and years more to do the work, which is still ongoing.
- 2018, Jacques Travers, La Divine Espionne: La mystérieuse Combattante de l'Ombre, page 288:
- Elle doit quitter Peenemünde vers vingt-deux heures car elle doit mettre en place un essai pour le lendemain et il ne devrait pas lui falloir plus d’une heure et demie pour arriver à Hambourg.
- She has to leave Peenemünde [a site for military research and development during World War II] around ten o’clock because she has to set up an experiment for the next day, and it shouldn’t take her more than an hour and a half to get to Hamburg.
- 1943, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Le Petit Prince:
- Il me fallut longtemps pour comprendre d’où il venait.
- It took me a long time to understand where he came from.
- (reflexive, with en) to be missing
- Note: For related usage, see s'en falloir.
Conjugation
[edit]This verb is defective, only conjugated in the third-person singular. This verb is impersonal and is conjugated only in the third-person singular.
infinitive | simple | falloir | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
present participle or gerund1 | simple | fallant /fa.lɑ̃/ | |||||
compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
past participle | fallu /fa.ly/ | ||||||
singular | plural | ||||||
first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
(simple tenses) |
present | — | — | faut /fo/ |
— | — | — |
imperfect | — | — | fallait /fa.lɛ/ |
— | — | — | |
past historic2 | — | — | fallut /fa.ly/ |
— | — | — | |
future | — | — | faudra /fo.dʁa/ |
— | — | — | |
conditional | — | — | faudrait /fo.dʁɛ/ |
— | — | — | |
(compound tenses) |
present perfect | present indicative of avoir + past participle | |||||
pluperfect | imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle | ||||||
past anterior2 | past historic of avoir + past participle | ||||||
future perfect | future of avoir + past participle | ||||||
conditional perfect | conditional of avoir + past participle | ||||||
subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ils, qu’elles | |
(simple tenses) |
present | — | — | faille /faj/ |
— | — | — |
imperfect2 | — | — | fallût /fa.ly/ |
— | — | — | |
(compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
imperative | – | – | – | ||||
simple | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
compound | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | |
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en. | |||||||
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). |
This verb is defective, only conjugated in the third-person singular. This verb is impersonal and is conjugated only in the third-person singular.
infinitive | simple | s'en falloir | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
compound | s'en être + past participle | ||||||
present participle or gerund1 | simple | s’en fallant /sɑ̃ fa.lɑ̃/ | |||||
compound | s'en étant + past participle | ||||||
past participle | fallu /fa.ly/ | ||||||
singular | plural | ||||||
first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
(simple tenses) |
present | — | — | s’en faut /sɑ̃ fo/ |
— | — | — |
imperfect | — | — | s’en fallait /sɑ̃ fa.lɛ/ |
— | — | — | |
past historic2 | — | — | s’en fallut /sɑ̃ fa.ly/ |
— | — | — | |
future | — | — | s’en faudra /sɑ̃ fo.dʁa/ |
— | — | — | |
conditional | — | — | s’en faudrait /sɑ̃ fo.dʁɛ/ |
— | — | — | |
(compound tenses) |
present perfect | present indicative of s'en être + past participle | |||||
pluperfect | imperfect indicative of s'en être + past participle | ||||||
past anterior2 | past historic of s'en être + past participle | ||||||
future perfect | future of s'en être + past participle | ||||||
conditional perfect | conditional of s'en être + past participle | ||||||
subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ils, qu’elles | |
(simple tenses) |
present | — | — | s’en faille /sɑ̃ faj/ |
— | — | — |
imperfect2 | — | — | s’en fallût /sɑ̃ fa.ly/ |
— | — | — | |
(compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of s'en être + past participle | |||||
pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of s'en être + past participle | ||||||
imperative | – | – | – | ||||
simple | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
compound | — | simple imperative of s'en être + past participle | — | simple imperative of s'en être + past participle | simple imperative of s'en être + past participle | — | |
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en. | |||||||
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). |
Derived terms
[edit]See also
[edit]References
[edit]- Etymology and history of “falloir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Further reading
[edit]- “falloir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
- French terms inherited from Old French
- French terms derived from Old French
- French terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- French terms derived from Latin
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:French/waʁ
- Rhymes:French/waʁ/2 syllables
- French lemmas
- French verbs
- French modal verbs
- French defective verbs
- French impersonal verbs
- French terms with usage examples
- French terms with quotations
- French reflexive verbs
- French third group verbs
- French irregular verbs
- French subjunctive-subordinating terms