falloir — French conjugation
to be necessary (il faut: one must)
Indicative
Present (Présent) Regular
Use the présent for habits, what is true now, and what is about to happen soon. A single set of endings covers what English often splits into “I speak” and “I am speaking”.
Elle parle arabe et français.
| Pronoun | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| il/elle | faut | he/she/it is necessary |
Simple past (Passé simple) Regular
The passé simple narrates completed past events in a literary or very formal style. In everyday conversation people use the passé composé instead, so you mostly meet this form in books and journalism.
Ils virent le roi s'approcher.
| Pronoun | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| il/elle | fallut | he/she/it was necessary |
Imperfect (Imparfait) Regular
The imparfait describes ongoing or repeated past actions and sets the background — how things were, what used to happen, weather, feelings. The passé composé, by contrast, marks single completed events.
Quand j'étais petit, j'allais souvent à la piscine.
| Pronoun | French |
|---|---|
| il/elle | fallait |
Conditional (Conditionnel) Regular
The conditionnel is for polite questions and requests, “would”-type hypotheticals, and what someone said would happen. It is also the usual consequent clause in si + imparfait → conditionnel patterns.
Pourriez-vous répéter, s'il vous plaît ?
| Pronoun | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| il/elle | faudrait | he/she/it would be necessary |
Future (Futur) Regular
The futur is for future plans and objective predictions. In speech, aller + infinitive is often clearer for the immediate future, while the simple future is common for facts further ahead or in writing.
Demain, nous dînerons chez eux.
| Pronoun | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| il/elle | faudra | he/she/it will be necessary |
Present perfect (Passé composé) Regular
The passé composé is the main spoken past for completed, bounded actions (often with a time adverb). Use avoir with most verbs; être is required for a fixed group of motion/inchange and all pronominal verbs, with participle agreement when necessary.
Elle est venue tôt, puis elle a téléphoné.
| Pronoun | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| je | j'ai fallu | I have been necessary |
| tu | tu as fallu | you have been necessary |
| il/elle | il/elle a fallu | he/she/it has been necessary |
| nous | nous avons fallu | we have been necessary |
| vous | vous avez fallu | you (pl.) have been necessary |
| ils/elles | ils/elles ont fallu | they have been necessary |
Pluperfect (Plus-que-parfait) Regular
The plus-que-parfait is the “earlier past”: one action was already over before another past moment. It answers “had already” when a story is anchored in a past time.
Déjà, il avait fini quand je suis arrivé.
| Pronoun | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| je | j'avais fallu | I had been necessary |
| tu | tu avais fallu | you had been necessary |
| il/elle | il/elle avait fallu | he/she/it had been necessary |
| nous | nous avions fallu | we had been necessary |
| vous | vous aviez fallu | you (pl.) had been necessary |
| ils/elles | ils/elles avaient fallu | they had been necessary |
Conditional perfect (Conditionnel passé) Regular
The conditionnel passé states what would have been true, plans that failed, and unreal past if-clauses (often with si + plus-que-parfait in the apodose).
J'aurais dit oui, mais c'était impossible.
| Pronoun | French |
|---|---|
| je | j'aurais fallu |
| tu | tu aurais fallu |
| il/elle | il/elle aurait fallu |
| nous | nous aurions fallu |
| vous | vous auriez fallu |
| ils/elles | ils/elles auraient fallu |
Future perfect (Futur antérieur) Regular
The futur antérieur marks an action that will be finished before a later future moment (by then I will have…). It can also suggest a conjecture about a recent past fact in formal or literary use.
D'ici samedi, j'aurai lu le rapport.
| Pronoun | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| je | j'aurai fallu | I will have been necessary |
| tu | tu auras fallu | you will have been necessary |
| il/elle | il/elle aura fallu | he/she/it will have been necessary |
| nous | nous aurons fallu | we will have been necessary |
| vous | vous aurez fallu | you (pl.) will have been necessary |
| ils/elles | ils/elles auront fallu | they will have been necessary |
Subjunctive
Present subjunctive (Subjonctif présent) Regular
The present subjunctive appears in subordinate clauses after desire, doubt, fear, need, and many impersonals, usually when the subject of the subordinate is different. Learn common triggers: il faut que, je veux que, je doute que…
Il faut qu'il parte avant midi.
| Pronoun | French |
|---|---|
| il/elle | faille |
Imperfect subjunctive (Subjonctif imparfait) Regular
The imparfait du subjonctif is a literary and formal past subjunctive. In modern speech, the present subjunctive usually replaces it for the same meaning.
Bien qu'il fût fatigué, il continua.
| Pronoun | French |
|---|---|
| il/elle | fallût |