falloir
French
Alternative forms
- fauloir (Louisiana French)
Etymology
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
- IPA(key): /fa.lwaʁ/
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -waʁ
Verb
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, p. 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.
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
- 2018, Jacques Travers, La Divine Espionne: La mystérieuse Combattante de l'Ombre, p. 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.
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
- 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
Conjugation
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, 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.
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 /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
- ce qu'il fallait démontrer
- ce qu'il ne faut pas entendre
- comme il faut
- de deux maux, il faut choisir le moindre
- entre deux maux, il faut choisir le moindre
- il ne fallait pas
- il ne faut jamais dire jamais
- loin s'en faut
- point trop n'en faut
- s'en falloir
See also
- devoir
References
- Etymology and history of “falloir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Further reading
- “falloir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.