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.
falloir (defective)
This verb is defective, only conjugated in the third-person singular. This verb is impersonal and is conjugated only in the third-person singular.
| 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 | – | – | – | ||||
| 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:
(Christopher Kendris , 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.
| 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 | – | – | – | ||||
| 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:
(Christopher Kendris , Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||