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Definition 2024
falloir
falloir
French
Verb
falloir
- (impersonal) to be necessary
- 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.
- Il faut que j'y aille
- 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.
-
Il me fallut longtemps pour comprendre d'où il venait.
-
Conjugation
This verb is defective, only conjugated in the third-person singular.
Conjugation of falloir (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| simple | compound | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | falloir | avoir fallu | |||||
| gerund | en fallant | en ayant fallu | |||||
| present participle | fallant /fa.lɑ̃/ |
||||||
| past participle | fallu /fa.ly/ |
||||||
| person | singular | plural | |||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il | nous | vous | ils | |
| simple tenses |
present | — | — | faut /fo/ |
— | — | — |
| imperfect | — | — | fallait /fa.lɛ/ |
— | — | — | |
| past historic1 | — | — |
fallut /fa.ly/ |
— | — | — | |
| future | — | — | faudra /fo.dʁa/ |
— | — | — | |
| conditional | — | — | faudrait /fo.dʁɛ/ |
— | — | — | |
| compound tenses |
present perfect | Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| past anterior1 | Use the past historic tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il | que nous | que vous | qu’ils | |
| simple tenses |
present | — | — | faille /faj/ |
— | — | — |
| imperfect1 | — | — |
fallût /fa.ly/ |
— | — | — | |
| compound tenses |
past | Use the present subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect1 | Use the imperfect subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | tu | – | nous | vous | – | |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1literary tenses | |||||||