Kilo Lingo

/falwaʁ/

Line drawing of falloir
Coloured illustration of falloir
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Translation

to be necessary, must, to need

Word origin

An altered form of Old French faillir ('to be lacking, to fail'), from Vulgar Latin fallire, from Latin fallere ('to deceive, to fail'). The impersonal il faut means 'it is needful'.

Origin
Latin
Root
fallere
English cognates
fail, fault, false

Grammar

Verb typeirregular (impersonal)

Conjugation

Regular french-irregular conjugation. Pronouns: je, tu, il/elle, nous, vous, ils/elles.

Indicative

Person PresentImperfectPast historicFutureConditional
je
tu
il/ellefautfallaitfallutfaudrafaudrait
nous
vous
ils/elles

Subjunctive

Person PresentImperfect
je
tu
il/ellefaillefallût
nous
vous
ils/elles

Non-finite

Gerund / present participle
Past participle
fallu

Examples

l'.

We need to leave now if we want to arrive on time.

.

You have to let me know before coming.

.

It takes courage to get through this difficult moment.

réserver billets l'.

You have to book the tickets several months in advance.

patience .

It took a lot of patience to finish this project.

Used in

Stories

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This word is part of lesson 2.