falloir
FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
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.
PronunciationEdit
VerbEdit
falloir
- (impersonal) to need, have to
- Il faut que j'y aille
- I need to go.
- Faut que j'y aille.
- Got to go.
- Il a tout ce qu'il te faut.
- He has everything that you need.
- to take (time)
- 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
ConjugationEdit
This verb is defective, only conjugated in the third-person singular. This verb is impersonal and is conjugated only in the third-person singular.
Conjugation of falloir (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| 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 | 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 only usable with preposition en. | |||||||
| 2 In less formal writing or speech, the past historic, past anterior, imperfect subjunctive and pluperfect subjunctive tenses may be found to have been replaced with the indicative present perfect, indicative pluperfect, present subjunctive and past subjunctive tenses respectively (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.
Conjugation of s'en falloir (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | s'en falloir | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | s'en être + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | s'en fallant /sã 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 | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | — | — | s'en faut /sã fo/ |
— | — | — |
| imperfect | — | — | s'en fallait /sã fa.lɛ/ |
— | — | — | |
| past historic2 | — | — | s'en fallut /sã fa.ly/ |
— | — | — | |
| future | — | — | s'en faudra /sã fo.dʁa/ |
— | — | — | |
| conditional | — | — | s'en faudrait /sã 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 /sã faj/ |
— | — | — |
| imperfect2 | — | — | s'en fallût /sã 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 only usable with preposition en. | |||||||
| 2 In less formal writing or speech, the past historic, past anterior, imperfect subjunctive and pluperfect subjunctive tenses may be found to have been replaced with the indicative present perfect, indicative pluperfect, present subjunctive and past subjunctive tenses respectively (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Derived termsEdit
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
Further readingEdit
- “falloir” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).