As a way of expressing obligation in French, il faut is one of the most common phrases you’ll hear. Il faut is generally used to convey a sense of necessity or obligation, or to give advice or suggestions.

Although this common French expression may seem simple, there are some nuances to properly using it that every French speaker needs to know. What’s more, il faut que is notorious for being used with the French subjunctive, so this aspect of the expression needs some particular attention.

In this post we’ll break down the different components of the phrase il faut in French, and then explore the different ways to use it in conversation. The infinitive of faut is falloir: we’ll end our post by seeing falloir conjugation in all the different tenses, so that you’ll be able to recognize it no matter how it’s used.

Il faut commencer quelque part! – One must start somewhere!

Il faut: Literal translation

Il faut is an impersonal expression in French, which means that the third-person singular subject pronoun il does not refer to a specific person or object. The closest English translation of this use of il is it.

The second word, faut, is the third-person singular present-tense conjugation of the impersonal verb falloir, which means to be necessary or to be required in French. We’ll see each and every falloir conjugation later in this post.

Taken together, the literal translation of il faut in English is it is necessary or it is required.

Since it’s an impersonal expression, however, there are other suitable English translations in certain contexts such as one must or you need to. We’ll see these variations in our example sentences throughout the rest of this post.

• Il faut arriver avant 20h. – It’s necessary to arrive before 8pm. – One must arrive before 8pm. – You need to arrive before 8pm.

• Il faut payer chaque consommation immédiatement. – It’s necessary to pay each drink immediately. – One must pay each drink immediately. – You have to pay each drink immediately.

Il faut vs Il faut que

We’ve already mentioned that the subjunctive mood can be triggered when we use il faut, but this only comes into play in certain sentence structures. Let’s look at how this works when using il faut vs il faut que.

Let’s start off with an example where there’s no use of the subjunctive:

• Il faut étudier pour avoir de bonnes notes. – It is necessary to study to have good grades. – One must study to have good grades. – You need to study to have good grades.

In this case, the word that follows the expression il faut is an unconjugated verb, or infinitive. There’s no need to use the subjunctive here since there is no que, which is normally required before the use of the subjunctive. In this context, the only conjugated verb is faut, and the impersonal subject pronoun il can translate into English as one, or even you, referring to people in general.

Now let’s take a look at an example where we need to use the subjunctive:

• Il faut que vous étudiiez pour avoir de bonnes notes. – It is necessary that you study to have good grades. – You must study to have good grades.

When we add que to the end of the phrase il faut, the sentence structure changes and requires the subjunctive. We follow il faut que with another subject, and then a verb conjugated to it in the subjunctive. There are two conjugated verbs in our last example: faut in the first clause, as il faut, and étudiiez in the dependent clause that follows, with vous as the subject of that action.

Using il faut que is a classic case where we need to use the subjunctive. Check out our detailed post for a full discussion on when to use the subjunctive in French.

Il faut: Translations and Uses

As we discussed above, il faut is most often used to express obligation or necessity, and it’s often translated into English as it is necessary or one must.

• Il faut arriver à l’heure au travail. – It is necessary to arrive on time at work.

• Pour résoudre ce problème, il faut savoir être créatif. – To resolve this problem, one must know how to be creative.

Il faut can also be used to give advice or suggestions. In these cases, the English translation may vary, depending on the situation.

• Il faut dire merci quand quelqu’un vous rend service. – It is polite to say thank you when someone helps you.

• Il faut organiser son temps pour éviter le stress. – You should organize your time to avoid stress.

Many common expressions in French use the phrase il faut as well. It’s even used in some popular movie titles! Take a look at these expressions to see how they’re best translated into English. Our best comme il faut meaning, for example, is properly, rather than something more literal like as it is necessary.

• Il faut souffrir pour être belle. – One must suffer to be beautiful.

• Il faut être deux pour danser le tango. – It takes two to tango.

• Il me faut un peu de temps pour réfléchir. – I need some time to think.

• As-tu vu le film Il faut sauver le soldat Ryan ? – Did you see the movie Saving Private Ryan?

• J’ai dressé la table comme il faut. – I set the table properly.

When asking a question in French, il faut is often inverted as faut-il.

• Faut-il téléphoner avant de partir ? – Is it necessary to call before leaving?

• Faut-il apporter nos propres serviettes à la piscine, ou sont-elles fournies ? – Do we have to bring our own towels to the pool, or are they provided?

Falloir conjugation: Different tenses of Il faut

Because it is an impersonal verb in French, we can only conjugate falloir in the third-person singular using the impersonal subject pronoun il. Nonetheless, falloir can be conjugated in many different tenses and moods in French, allowing us to express past, future, or conditional obligation.

The falloir conjugation table is therefore quite straightforward, since there’s only one form for each tense. We list them here in our full falloir conjugation chart. Where we have dedicated lessons on the specific tenses, we provide links in that column. We provide approximate English translations for each of the conjugations here, but remember that the best English version often varies depending on the context.

Note that for this impersonal verb that’s only conjugated to il, there is no imperative form, nor a present participle. The past participle that we’ll see in compound tenses is fallu.

• Il fallait étudier tous les jours pour réussir l’examen. – It was necessary to study every day to pass the exam.

• Il faudra apporter ton passeport pour les vacances. – It will be necessary to bring your passport for vacation.

• Il faudrait faire plus d’exercice pour rester en bonne santé. – It would be necessary to exercise more to stay healthy.

Conclusion: Il faut in French

Understanding the common phrase il faut is essential for anyone learning or speaking French. It’s versatile and easy to use, as long as you know the rules and nuances! Whether you’re conveying the need for action or suggesting a certain behavior, il faut has a variety of uses in everyday conversation.

Remember the difference between using il faut and il faut que, as each phrase has its own set of grammatical rules to follow. Don’t be afraid of the fact that you’ll need to use the subjunctive after il faut que; in fact, this is one of the best subjunctive trigger phrases to practice getting the hang of incorporating it into your written and spoken French.

Depending on what you’re trying to convey, you can use nearly any verb tense or mood with the verb falloir to indicate when or how something must be done. We saw this with our full falloir conjugation chart, showing this impersonal verb in all the tenses.

In essence, il faut is an incredibly useful tool to have in your vocabulary!