Impersonal verbs and expressions - il faut, il y a Impersonal verbs and expressions in French

Impersonal verbs are in the third person and start with ‘il’ as they are general statements not related to a particular person. Discover how to use il faut and il y a.

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Impersonal verbs and expressions in French

Some verbs in French are always used in the third person. This means they always start with il as they are impersonal. In other words, they are general statements not related to any particular person.

They are set phrases. Therefore the subject pronoun they start with never changes and they are only ever conjugated (changed into a different tense) in the third person. For example:

  • il fait beau - it’s nice (weather)
  • il faisait beau - it was nice (weather)
  • il a fait beau hier - it was nice yesterday (weather)
  • il fera beau demain - it will be nice tomorrow (weather)

Weather phrases

FrenchEnglish
Il fait +beauIt’s nice weather
chaudIt’s hot
froidIt’s cold
mauvaisIt’s awful weather
Il y a +du ventIt’s windy
du brouillardIt’s foggy
du soleilIt’s sunny
Il fait +
Frenchbeau
EnglishIt’s nice weather
Frenchchaud
EnglishIt’s hot
Frenchfroid
EnglishIt’s cold
Frenchmauvais
EnglishIt’s awful weather
Il y a +
Frenchdu vent
EnglishIt’s windy
Frenchdu brouillard
EnglishIt’s foggy
Frenchdu soleil
EnglishIt’s sunny

There is also:

  • il gèle - it’s freezing
  • il neige - it’s snowing
  • il pleut - it’s raining

Other set phrases

ExpressionEnglish
Il faut…It’s necessary to
Il est facile deIt’s easy to
Il est interdit deIt is forbidden to
Il vaut mieuxIt is better to
Il est nécessaire deIt’s necessary to
Il est difficile deIt’s difficult to
Il est défendu deIt is forbidden to
Il est impossible deIt is impossible to
ExpressionIl faut…
EnglishIt’s necessary to
ExpressionIl est facile de
EnglishIt’s easy to
ExpressionIl est interdit de
EnglishIt is forbidden to
ExpressionIl vaut mieux
EnglishIt is better to
ExpressionIl est nécessaire de
EnglishIt’s necessary to
ExpressionIl est difficile de
EnglishIt’s difficult to
ExpressionIl est défendu de
EnglishIt is forbidden to
ExpressionIl est impossible de
EnglishIt is impossible to

Examples:

  • il faut se laver les mains - you need to wash your hands
  • il vaut mieux partir plus tard – it is be better to leave later
  • il est interdit de fumer ici - smoking is forbidden here
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Further common set phrases with ‘il’

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