Falloir — to be necessary (must) | French Verb Chart
On this page
🖨️ Print-friendly: use Ctrl+P (⌘P) or your browser menu to print this chart cleanly.
📚 This is the overview. « falloir » is taught level by level — pick your CEFR level below for a full lesson (explanation, pronunciation, exercises & games).
Present
- il fautone must / it is necessary
Passé composé
- il a falluit was necessary
Imperfect
- il fallaitit was necessary
Future
- il faudrait will be necessary
Conditional
- il faudraitit would be necessary / one should
Subjunctive
- qu’il faillethat it be necessary
🎬 The 20-second version
Five phrases with « falloir » — guess before the reveal. Practise with the free games → Open this short as a page — transcript included →
📘 How to use Falloir
- Impersonal & defective: falloir exists ONLY in the il form — there is no « je faux » etc. « il » here means « it », not a person.
- Il faut + infinitive = one must (general): il faut manger. Il faut que + subjonctif = someone must: il faut que tu partes.
- Il faut + noun = it takes / one needs: il faut du courage. Il me faut = I need: il me faut deux jours.
🔑 Key forms
🔊 Common expressions
🔊 Example sentences
✍️ Practice
must + infinitive (general) = il ___ + inf (present)
Show answer
faut
il faut que + which mood? (subordinate)
Show answer
subjonctif
it would be necessary / one should = il ___ (conditional)
Show answer
faudrait
🎮 Practise this with games
🎯 More practice — translation — put it into French
Translate into French: « We have to go. » (translation)
Show answer
Il faut y aller.
Translate into French: « I have to leave. » (translation)
Show answer
Il faut que je parte.
Translate into French: « You mustn’t worry. » (translation)
Show answer
Il ne faut pas s’inquiéter.
Translate into French: « We should book. » (translation)
Show answer
Il faudrait réserver.
Translate into French: « You need to revise before the exam. » (translation)
Show answer
Il faut réviser avant l’examen.
Go further: How to learn French verbs — the pattern system.
Falloir conjugation FAQ
What is the present tense of falloir?
il faut. Full charts for every tense are above, each form with audio.
What is the past participle of falloir?
fallu — the passé composé is « il a fallu ». Falloir uses avoir as its auxiliary verb.
How do you say falloir in the future tense?
« il faudra » — the future stem never changes across persons, only the endings do.
What does falloir mean in English?
to be necessary (must). It is one of the essential French verbs — drill the present first, then the passé composé; those two tenses carry most conversations.
🎮 Practise this lesson
Games built from this exact page — turn what you just read into play:
🧩 Sentence Builder rebuild these sentences
🎧 Listening Game which sentence do you hear?
🎬 All seven CEFR levels, end to end
« falloir » at every CEFR level — the tense, its forms and the mechanic that makes it stick. Practise it with the free games →