falloir

French

Alternative forms

• fauloir (Louisiana)

Etymology

Inherited from Old French faloir, from an earlier falleir, from a changing of Old French faillir after its third person singular, faut, earlier falt (from Latin fallit), based off the model of valoir. Faillir derives in turn from Vulgar Latin *fallīre, from Latin fallere, fallō. Compare Franco-Provençal falêr from a similar development in Old Franco-Provençal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fa.lwaʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -waʁ

Verb

falloir (defective)

1. (impersonal) to need, have to, to be necessary (that)

   Il faut que j’y aille

   I need to go.

   Faut que j’y aille.

   Got to go.

   Il ne faut pas que tu dises ça.

   You don’t have to say that.

   Il a tout ce qu’il te faut.

   He has everything that you need.

   • 2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Altas, Sceptre:

     Et si vous nuisez à ma réputation, eh bien, il faudra que je ruine la vôtre.

     And if you ruin my reputation, well, I'll have to ruin yours.

2. to take (time)

   Synonym: (informal) prendre

   • 2020, Vincent Furnelle, Le paysage et son double, page 23:

     Il leur a fallu des années pour obtenir le permis de bâtir, des années encore pour faire les travaux, qui sont encore en cours.

     It took them years to obtain the building permit, and years more to do the work, which is still ongoing.

   • 2018, Jacques Travers, La Divine Espionne: La mystérieuse Combattante de l'Ombre, page 288:

     Elle doit quitter Peenemünde vers vingt-deux heures car elle doit mettre en place un essai pour le lendemain et il ne devrait pas lui falloir plus d’une heure et demie pour arriver à Hambourg.

     She has to leave Peenemünde [a site for military research and development during World War II] around ten o’clock because she has to set up an experiment for the next day, and it shouldn’t take her more than an hour and a half to get to Hamburg.

   • 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.

3. (reflexive, with en) to be missing

   Note: For related usage, see s'en falloir.

Conjugation

This verb is defective, only conjugated in the third-person singular. This verb is impersonal and is conjugated only in the third-person singular.

Conjugation of falloir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	falloir
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	fallant /fa.lɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		fallu /fa.ly/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	—	—	faut /fo/	—	—	—
	imperfect	—	—	fallait /fa.lɛ/	—	—	—
	past historic2	—	—	fallut /fa.ly/	—	—	—
	future	—	—	faudra /fo.dʁa/	—	—	—
	conditional	—	—	faudrait /fo.dʁɛ/	—	—	—
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	—	—	faille /faj/	—	—	—
	imperfect2	—	—	fallût /fa.ly/	—	—	—
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	—	—	—	—	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

This verb is defective, only conjugated in the third-person singular. This verb is impersonal and is conjugated only in the third-person singular.

Conjugation of s'en falloir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	s'en falloir
	compound	s'en être + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	s’en fallant /sɑ̃ fa.lɑ̃/
	compound	s'en étant + past participle
past participle		fallu /fa.ly/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	—	—	s’en faut /sɑ̃ fo/	—	—	—
	imperfect	—	—	s’en fallait /sɑ̃ fa.lɛ/	—	—	—
	past historic2	—	—	s’en fallut /sɑ̃ fa.ly/	—	—	—
	future	—	—	s’en faudra /sɑ̃ fo.dʁa/	—	—	—
	conditional	—	—	s’en faudrait /sɑ̃ fo.dʁɛ/	—	—	—
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of s'en être + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of s'en être + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of s'en être + past participle
	future perfect	future of s'en être + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of s'en être + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	—	—	s’en faille /sɑ̃ faj/	—	—	—
	imperfect2	—	—	s’en fallût /sɑ̃ fa.ly/	—	—	—
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of s'en être + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of s'en être + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	—	—	—	—	—
compound		—	simple imperative of s'en être + past participle	—	simple imperative of s'en être + past participle	simple imperative of s'en être + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• ce qu’il fallait démontrer
• ce qu’il ne faut pas entendre
• comme il faut
• de deux maux, il faut choisir le moindre
• entre deux maux, il faut choisir le moindre
• il ne fallait pas
• il ne faut jamais dire jamais
• loin s’en faut
• point trop n’en faut
• s’en falloir

 

See also

• devoir

References

• Etymology and history of “falloir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Further reading

• “falloir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.