French verb conjugation
falloir conjugation
to be necessary (impersonal)
falloir means "to be necessary (impersonal)" in English. It's a irregular 3rd group verb that takes the auxiliary avoir in compound tenses. Below are the full conjugation tables for every tense you'll need from CEFR A1 to C1.
Conjugate falloir in French
Indicatif
Présent (indicative)
| il | faut |
|---|
Examples in use
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Il faut partir maintenant si on veut arriver à l'heure.
We need to leave now if we want to arrive on time.
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Il faut partir maintenant.
We have to leave now.
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Il faut que tu rentres tôt ce soir.
You need to come home early tonight.
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Il faut deux heures pour arriver là-bas.
It takes two hours to get there.
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Il faut beaucoup de patience avec lui.
You need a lot of patience with him.
Passé composé
| il | a fallu |
|---|
Examples in use
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Hier, il a fallu rentrer plus tôt à cause de la pluie.
Yesterday, we had to come home earlier because of the rain.
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Il a fallu deux heures pour finir ce travail.
It took two hours to finish this work.
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Il a fallu beaucoup de patience pour le convaincre.
It took a lot of patience to convince him.
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Il a fallu tout recommencer après l'erreur.
We had to start everything over after the mistake.
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Il a fallu se lever très tôt ce matin.
We had to get up very early this morning.
Imparfait
| il | fallait |
|---|
Examples in use
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Il fallait que tu rentres avant minuit.
You needed to come home before midnight.
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À l'époque, il fallait payer en liquide.
At the time, you had to pay in cash.
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Il fallait beaucoup de courage pour faire ça.
It took a lot of courage to do that.
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Il fallait se lever très tôt pour le train.
We had to get up very early for the train.
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Il fallait tout préparer la veille.
We had to prepare everything the night before.
Plus-que-parfait
| il | avait fallu |
|---|
Examples in use
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Il avait fallu partir plus tôt pour éviter la pluie.
It had been necessary to leave earlier to avoid the rain.
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Il avait fallu tout recommencer depuis le début.
It had been necessary to start everything over from the beginning.
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Il avait fallu acheter plus de pain pour tout le monde.
It had been necessary to buy more bread for everyone.
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Il avait fallu prévenir avant d'arriver.
It had been necessary to warn before arriving.
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Il avait fallu rentrer avant la nuit.
It had been necessary to come home before nightfall.
Futur simple
| il | faudra |
|---|
Examples in use
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Il faudra partir tôt demain matin.
We will have to leave early tomorrow morning.
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Il faudra prévoir un parapluie pour ce voyage.
We will need to plan for an umbrella for this trip.
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Il faudra que tu fasses un effort.
You will have to make an effort.
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Il faudra beaucoup de temps pour finir.
It will take a lot of time to finish.
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Il faudra tout préparer la veille du départ.
We will need to prepare everything the day before departure.
Futur antérieur
| il | aura fallu |
|---|
Examples in use
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Il aura fallu tout préparer avant son arrivée.
It will have been necessary to prepare everything before his arrival.
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Il aura fallu insister pour obtenir une réponse.
It will have been necessary to insist to get an answer.
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Il aura fallu attendre une éternité.
It will have been necessary to wait an eternity.
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Il aura fallu tout reprendre à zéro.
It will have been necessary to start everything from scratch.
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Il aura fallu y aller à pied.
It will have been necessary to go on foot.
Conditionnel
Conditionnel présent
| il | faudrait |
|---|
Examples in use
-
Il faudrait partir maintenant pour être à l'heure.
We would need to leave now to be on time.
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Il faudrait que tu lui en parles.
You should talk to him about it.
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Il faudrait peut-être prévoir un parapluie.
It would perhaps be wise to plan for an umbrella.
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Il faudrait beaucoup d'argent pour acheter ça.
It would take a lot of money to buy that.
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Il faudrait mieux attendre demain.
It would be better to wait until tomorrow.
Conditionnel passé
| il | aurait fallu |
|---|
Examples in use
-
Il aurait fallu partir plus tôt, dommage.
It would have been necessary to leave earlier, a shame.
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Il aurait fallu tout préparer à l'avance.
It would have been necessary to prepare everything in advance.
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Il aurait fallu insister davantage.
It would have been necessary to insist more.
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Il aurait fallu prévenir tout le monde.
It would have been necessary to warn everyone.
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Il aurait fallu choisir l'autre option.
It would have been necessary to choose the other option.
Subjonctif
Subjonctif présent
| il | faille |
|---|
Examples in use
-
Je doute qu'il faille partir si tôt.
I doubt it's necessary to leave so early.
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Bien qu'il faille insister, je préfère attendre.
Although it would be necessary to insist, I prefer to wait.
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Je ne crois pas qu'il faille s'inquiéter.
I don't think we need to worry.
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Pour qu'il faille y aller, il y a urgence.
For it to be necessary to go, there must be an emergency.
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Je doute qu'il faille tout recommencer.
I doubt we need to start over.
Subjonctif passé
| il | ait fallu |
|---|
Examples in use
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Je regrette qu'il ait fallu tant d'efforts.
I regret that so much effort was needed.
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Bien qu'il ait fallu du temps, le résultat est là.
Although it took time, the result is there.
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Je suis surpris qu'il ait fallu insister.
I'm surprised it was necessary to insist.
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Je regrette qu'il ait fallu rentrer si tôt.
I regret that it was necessary to go home so early.
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Bien qu'il ait fallu payer, c'est juste.
Although it was necessary to pay, it's fair.
Look up any form of falloir
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