French · Chapter 12 · Lesson 12 · Grammar primer
Impersonal verbs: il y a, il faut, il fait
How French says 'there is', 'one must', 'it's cold'. The constructions that take il as a dummy subject with no real referent.
The short version
Three dummy ils, three different jobs
The il in these constructions refers to nothing at all, and the three are not interchangeable. Existence takes il y a, weather takes il fait or il pleut, and the clock takes il est. Il y a trois heures does not tell anyone the time; il est trois heures does.
Il fait beau, mais il y a du vent.
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