Key points about impersonal verbs and expressions in French
Use Used to communicate that something must be done without specifying who should do it, where there is no natural subject (I, you, he, etc.). to talk about the weather and tell the time, for example il fait beau and il est huit heures.
Impersonal verbs are also used to say il y a (there is/are), il y aura (there will be) and il y avait (there used to be).
Another useful impersonal verb expression, to say it is necessary to do something, is il faut.
Higher Tier only - Use impersonal verbs with An adjective is a word that describes a noun. In French, adjectives have different endings depending on whether the noun they are describing is masculine, feminine, singular or plural. and The basic form of the verb. In French, all infinitives end in '-er', '-ir' or '-re'. for expressions such as il est difficile de (it is difficult to).
Higher Tier only - The impersonal verb phrase il manque is used to say something is missing.
Impersonal verbs in French
Some verbs in French are always used in the third person. This means they always start with the subject pronoun il as they are impersonal. In other words, they are general statements not related to anyone in particular.
They are set phrases, meaning the subject pronoun never changes.
For example:
Il faut regarder ce film. – It’s necessary to watch this film.
Il y a beaucoup de devoirs. – There’s a lot of homework.
Il fait beau. – It’s nice (weather).
Il est huit heures et demie. – It’s half past eight.
Weather phrases
Here are some common weather phrases which use impersonal verbs:
| Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. + | Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. | It’s nice weather. |
| Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. | It’s hot. | |
| Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. | It's cold. | |
| Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. | It’s bad weather. | |
| Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. + | Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. | It’s windy. |
| Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. | It's sunny. | |
| Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. | It's foggy. | |
| Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. + | Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. | It’s freezing. |
| Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. | It’s snowing. | |
| Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. | It’s raining. |
When weather phrases are said in different tenses they are still only conjugated in the third person.
For example:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Il fait beau. | It’s nice. (weather) |
| Il faisait beau. | It was nice. (weather). |
| Il a fait beau hier. | It was nice (weather) yesterday. |
| Il fera beau demain. | It will be nice (weather) tomorrow. |
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Il y a du vent. | It’s windy. |
| Il y avait du vent. | It was windy. |
| Il y a eu du vent hier. | It was windy yesterday. |
| Il y aura du vent demain. | It will be windy tomorrow. |
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Il pleut. | It’s raining. |
| Il pleuvait. | It was raining. |
| Il a plu hier. | It was raining yesterday. |
| Il va pleuvoir demain. | It will be raining tomorrow. |
Common impersonal verbs
Here are some other examples of how common impersonal verbs are used:
- Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. – there is/are
Il y a une grande piscine dans la ville. – There’s a big swimming pool in the town.
- Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. – there used to be
Dans le passé il y avait beaucoup de pollution ici. – In the past there used to be a lot of pollution here.
- Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. – there will be
À l’avenir il y aura des voitures électriques partout. – In the future there will be electric cars everywhere.
- Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. + infinitive – it’s necessary to
Il faut faire les devoirs tous les jours. – It’s necessary to do homework every day.
- Use Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. for telling the time:
Il est huit heures. – It’s eight o’clock.
Common impersonal verbs - Mini quiz
What are the French translations of these phrases?
It’s sunny.
Il fait du soleil.
There is a lot of pollution.
Il y a beaucoup de pollution.
Quiz - Impersonal verbs and expressions
Practise what you've learned about impersonal verbs and expressions with this quiz.
Higher Tier - Impersonal verbs with adjectives
There are other impersonal verbs used with common adjectives, following this pattern:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Il est difficile de | It’s difficult to |
| Il est facile de | It’s easy to |
| Il est nécessaire de | It’s necessary to |
| Il est interdit de | It’s forbidden to |
| Il est impossible de | It’s impossible to |
For example:
Il est difficile de travailler tout le temps. – It’s difficult to work all the time.
Il est nécessaire de se laver les mains. – It’s necessary to wash one’s hands.
Il est interdit d’utiliser les portables au collège. – It’s forbidden to use mobile phones in school.
- If you want to follow the phrase with an infinitive in the negative, you need to add ne pas before the infinitive.
For example:
Il est impossible de ne pas avoir une pause. – It’s impossible not to have a break.
- Another useful impersonal verb phrase to mean something 'is missing' is Il manque + noun.
For example:
Il manque le livre. – The book is missing.
Impersonal verbs with adjectives - Mini quiz
What are the French translations of these phrases?
It’s difficult to work.
Il est difficile de travailler.
The bag is missing.
Il manque le sac.
Higher Tier - Quiz - Impersonal verbs and expressions
Practise what you've learned about impersonal verbs and expressions with this Higher Tier quiz.
Now you’ve learned about impersonal verbs and expressions, why not explore interrogatives in French?
